Over 3,000 Drug Offenders Arrested in 3 Months... Clear Increase Among MZ Generation

[Asia Economy Reporter Seongpil Cho] The National Police Agency's National Investigation Headquarters announced on the 19th that they conducted a focused crackdown on drug offenders over a three-month period from March to May, arresting 3,033 individuals, of whom 509 were detained. This represents a 15.5% increase compared to the 2,626 arrests made during the same period last year. The police also explained that the number of arrests from January to May this year reached 4,700, a 19.6% increase compared to 3,931 during the same period last year.

The police stated that during this focused crackdown, they seized various drugs including 7,046g of Philopon, 4,752 Ecstasy pills, 2,928g of JWH-018, 7,592 yaba pills, 1,563ml of GHB, and 9,691g of marijuana. Additionally, they took pre-indictment seizure preservation measures on illegal proceeds worth approximately 2.36 billion KRW. Pre-indictment seizure preservation is a measure to prevent suspects from arbitrarily disposing of assets subject to confiscation before a final court ruling. If confiscation is not possible, the equivalent value is collected.

In this crackdown, a large number of 'dark web and other internet drug offenders' were caught due to the increase in non-face-to-face drug distribution combining the internet (dark web), social networking services (SNS), and virtual assets. As a result of cracking down on drug distribution offenders using the internet and SNS, which are major means of non-face-to-face transactions, 1,174 individuals were arrested, marking a 31.6% increase from 892 last year.

The number of 'youth drug offenders' and 'foreign drug offenders' also increased significantly. A police official said, "The so-called MZ generation drug offenders, who are familiar with the internet and SNS, numbered 1,918, showing a clear upward trend," adding, "As non-face-to-face purchasing methods diversified, drugs spread into daily life, and offenders purchasing out of curiosity and using drugs increased." Many cases of foreign drug offenders gathering among their compatriots for joint drug use were detected in areas densely populated by foreigners and clubs. Foreign drug offenders numbered 457, accounting for 15.1% of the total.

The police plan to actively utilize a 'tracking system' and conduct customized practical training to respond to various new methods that evade virtual asset tracking in order to eradicate drug crimes and block criminal proceeds. They also intend to strengthen drug crime prevention education for youth, conduct crime prevention activities through cooperation with related organizations, and select and intensively inspect medical institutions suspected of illegal misuse in collaboration with the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety.

Furthermore, since most drugs distributed domestically are smuggled in from overseas, the police plan to solidify cooperation systems among domestic drug-related agencies such as the Korea Customs Service and strengthen international cooperation with foreign investigative agencies to eradicate drug distribution. A police official stated, "Since confidentiality is guaranteed for drug crime reporters and rewards are provided, active reporting by the public is necessary."

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