20s Caught Smuggling and Distributing Drugs Using Apartment and Commercial Mailboxes

Mr. A is entering the apartment entrance to receive narcotics brought in by international mail. Provided by Incheon Regional Customs Office, Korea Customs Service

[Asia Economy (Daejeon) Reporter Jeong Il-woong] A man in his 20s who smuggled drugs via international mail was caught by customs authorities. It was revealed that he used apartment and commercial building mailboxes, which are not properly managed, for drug smuggling.

On the 13th, the Incheon Regional Customs Office of the Korea Customs Service announced that it had recently apprehended Mr. A (in his 20s, unemployed) on charges of violating the Narcotics Control Act and sent him to the prosecution.

According to Incheon Customs, Mr. A is suspected of smuggling 99 tablets of Ecstasy (MDMA) and 339 tablets of Nexus (2C-B) via international mail from June to August, using cryptocurrency on the dark web, intending to sell them domestically.

The Nexus smuggled by Mr. A is an amphetamine-type drug known to cause strong hallucinations by intensifying sensory perceptions such as sight and smell.

In particular, Mr. A showed meticulousness by continuously observing apartment and commercial building mailboxes near his residence and selecting 19 locations where mail was not immediately collected but accumulated for use.

He avoided detection by having international mail containing drugs sent to pre-selected addresses, waiting on-site on the day the mail arrived, and secretly removing the drugs from the mailboxes once the mail was deposited.

During this process, Mr. A boldly impersonated the mailbox recipients to communicate with postal workers and used the same locations as shipping points when selling the drugs brought into the country.

However, Mr. A’s activities were uncovered during the international mail quarantine process at Incheon Customs. Ecstasy ordered from the dark web and imported from France was detected during on-site quarantine inspection.

Accordingly, Incheon Customs conducted a joint undercover investigation with the Gwangju Regional Customs Office and on the 17th of last month, they tracked and urgently arrested Mr. A after he fled the scene having received drugs delivered to another person’s mailbox.

Additionally, two types of drugs including Exodus and Nexus, stored in a temperature- and humidity-controlled refrigerator at Mr. A’s residence, along with drug sales equipment (cutters, small foil bags, heat-sealing machines for packaging, etc.) were seized.

Currently, Mr. A has confessed to purchasing drugs five times on the dark web and reselling some of the purchased drugs domestically.

An official from Incheon Customs stated, “To prevent household mailboxes from being exploited for drug crimes, it is necessary to manage mail properly by not leaving it unattended for long periods.” He added, “If you become aware that international mail has been delivered using someone else’s mailbox, as in Mr. A’s case, please do not touch the mail and report it to customs immediately.”

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