Mokpo Coast Guard Seizes Cigarette Smuggling Vessel Worth Over 2.5 Billion Won During Enhanced Maritime Patrol Activities

Smuggling of a Total of 1,063 Boxes of Domestic and Foreign Cigarettes... Success in Thorough Inspection and Search

Mokpo Coast Guard is inspecting a large quantity of smuggled cigarettes on a vessel through a checkpoint search. (Photo by Mokpo Coast Guard Station)

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Seo Young-seo] Mokpo Maritime Police Station (Chief Im Jae-su) arrested the captain and crew who smuggled a total of 1,063 boxes (563,000 packs) of domestic and foreign cigarettes by disguising as transporting fishery products on the high seas, on charges including violation of the Act on Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes.

According to Mokpo Maritime Police on the 21st, at 12:52 PM on the 18th, a suspicious vessel A (39 tons, fishery product transport ship, Incheon-registered, 6 crew members) sailing into Korean territorial waters near 193 km west of Gageodo, Sinan-gun, Jeollanam-do, was discovered by a maritime police ship conducting enhanced maritime security activities, and was ordered to stop for inspection and search.

Upon a thorough search inside vessel A, the maritime police found a total of 1,063 boxes (563,000 packs, market value about 2.55 billion KRW) of domestic and foreign cigarettes hidden in the fish hold used for storing fishery products.

Mokpo Coast Guard is conducting an inspection on a smuggling vessel and checking smuggled cigarettes. (Photo by Mokpo Coast Guard Station)

It was confirmed that vessel A departed from Daecheon Port, Boryeong, Chungnam at 2:57 AM on the 17th, and at around 6 AM the next day, near 213 km west of Gageodo, Sinan-gun, Jeollanam-do, transferred cigarettes using a crane from an unidentified Chinese vessel, then was moving towards Mokpo, Jeollanam-do.

On the 19th at around 5:30 PM, the maritime police escorted vessel A to the exclusive pier of Mokpo Maritime Police Station, conducted COVID-19 tests and quarantine measures on the captain and crew, and are currently investigating the detected charges and any additional crimes in detail.

Im Jae-su, Chief of Mokpo Maritime Police Station, said, “Cigarette smuggling has been rampant this year, so we will establish a close cooperative system with the Customs Service and strengthen maritime surveillance. We will firmly respond to crimes that disrupt law and order and the market economy.”

Earlier, in January, Mokpo Maritime Police arrested a group attempting to smuggle 1,070 boxes (market value about 2.1 billion KRW) of Chinese cigarettes loaded on a fishing boat near 5 km west of Jaewondo, Sinan-gun, Jeollanam-do, and in April, Gunsan Maritime Police arrested a group attempting to smuggle 293 boxes (market value about 400 million KRW) of Chinese cigarettes near the high seas southwest of Eocheongdo, Gunsan City.

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