Coast Guard Headquarters Intensifies Crackdown on Smuggling of COVID-19 Quarantine Supplies and Vaccines

Last month, a fishing boat smuggling Chinese cigarettes was caught by the Coast Guard off the coast of Mokpo.
[Photo by Korea Coast Guard]

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Hyesook] The Korea Coast Guard announced on the 1st that it will strengthen crackdowns on international crimes such as smuggling, illegal immigration, and drug trafficking via maritime routes.

The Coast Guard expects an increase in maritime international crimes targeting the Lunar New Year holiday demand, influenced by restrictions on human exchanges between countries and a decrease in maritime cargo volume due to COVID-19.

Accordingly, they plan to focus on cracking down on smuggling of quarantine supplies or vaccines related to COVID-19, drug trafficking via sea routes, illegal immigration using small boats, and smuggling and illegal distribution of agricultural, marine, and livestock products.

International crimes via sea routes such as illegal immigration and smuggling increased significantly from 56 cases in 2018 to 171 cases in 2019. Although the number slightly decreased to 123 cases last year, there were 6 cases of maritime illegal immigration in 2018 and 2019, when none had been reported before.

Earlier, on the 28th of last month, six people including a fishing boat captain were caught by the Coast Guard attempting to smuggle 1,070 boxes of Chinese cigarettes (worth approximately 2.1 billion KRW) into Mokpo, Jeollanam-do, after contacting a cargo ship in international waters.

The Coast Guard offers rewards of up to 10 million KRW to informants reporting smuggling or illegal immigration.

A Korea Coast Guard official stated, "We will mobilize all foreign affairs police officers nationwide to strengthen patrols at ports and harbors" and added, "We will intensively crack down on international crimes such as smuggling that threaten the market economy."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.