'Overseas Direct Purchase of Drugs' Increased 12 Times in 5 Years

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Ji-eun] In the past five years, drug smuggling crackdown results have surged, and it has been revealed that drug smuggling crackdowns through so-called overseas direct purchases such as 'express cargo and international mail' have also increased explosively.

According to the '2016 vs. 2021 Drug Smuggling Crackdown Status' data received by Rep. Cho Hae-jin of the People Power Party from the Korea Customs Service on the 20th, the total annual drug smuggling crackdown cases increased 2.8 times from 382 to 1,054 in the past five years. In terms of weight, it increased about 25 times from 50,036g to 1,272,474g, and in terms of value, it surged about 5 times from 88.7 billion KRW to 449.9 billion KRW.

In particular, crackdowns on drug smuggling via international mail and express cargo, which have emerged as major channels for overseas direct purchases, a new type of drug smuggling, also increased significantly. Looking at the trend of international mail drug smuggling crackdowns, the number of cases increased about 3.3 times from 240 to 780, the weight increased about 12 times from 15,732g to 193,306g, and the value increased about 2 times from 18.7 billion KRW to 36.8 billion KRW.

Examining express cargo in detail, the number of cases increased about 3 times from 60 to 177, the weight increased about 20 times from 6,163g to 121,405g, and the value increased about 29 times from 2.8 billion KRW to 80.8 billion KRW.

Rep. Cho said, "It seems that international mail and express cargo will increase further, so drug smuggling will likely increase accordingly," and emphasized, "It is essential to reinforce manpower in line with the rapidly changing smuggling environment, and there is also a need to quickly acquire advanced scientific equipment such as drug detectors (ion scanners)."

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