Korea Customs Service "First Seizure and Preservation of Drug Smuggling Funds in 'Cryptocurrency'"

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[Asia Economy (Daejeon) Reporter Jeong Il-woong] Cryptocurrency used as drug smuggling funds will be confiscated and recovered into the national treasury. This is the first case in which the Korea Customs Service has confiscated cryptocurrency.

On the 13th, Incheon Customs of the Korea Customs Service announced that it plans to confiscate and recover into the national treasury the profits of a suspect who smuggled and sold new drugs from Southeast Asia in February and concealed the proceeds in cryptocurrency.

Incheon Customs recently discovered 300 million KRW in drug trafficking funds hidden in a cryptocurrency wallet by the suspect during an investigation into the smuggling of new synthetic drugs of the JWH-018 series (commonly known as 'synthetic marijuana') using express cargo, which has been increasing recently.

Subsequently, to prevent the concealed funds from being used for actual drug smuggling, Incheon Customs obtained a confiscation preservation order from the Incheon District Court for the cryptocurrency held at domestic cryptocurrency exchange A, thereby laying the groundwork for recovery into the national treasury.

Notably, this case is significant in that it preemptively blocked the suspect from disposing of cryptocurrency, which had been exploited for drug smuggling transactions due to its anonymity, thereby preventing additional drug smuggling and domestic illicit trade.

An official from Incheon Customs stated, “We will actively enhance investigative techniques, including developing methods to trace drug smuggling through cryptocurrency, to preemptively block drug fund concealment and drug smuggling, and to protect public health and social safety.”

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