Prosecutors Declare All-Out War on Drug Crimes... Form Special Investigation Team of 80 Members

Special Investigation Teams of 20-25 Members Operate at Seoul Central, Incheon, Busan, and Gwangju District Prosecutors' Offices
Over 250 Nationwide 'Drug Task Officers' Reassigned... Customs Service and National Intelligence Service Also Join

[Asia Economy Reporter Heo Kyung-jun] The prosecution has declared a "war on drug crimes" and decided to form special investigation teams at the four major prosecution offices nationwide. The number of drug offenders registered with the prosecution by August this year is expected to reach around 12,200, marking an all-time high.

On the 14th, the Supreme Prosecutors' Office established a policy to fully respond to "drug and livelihood-related crimes" and decided to operate special teams at the Seoul Central, Incheon, Busan, and Gwangju District Prosecutors' Offices in cooperation with related agencies such as the Korea Customs Service, National Intelligence Service, Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, Ministry of Health and Welfare, local governments, and the Korea Communications Commission.

The Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office will conduct joint investigations covering the metropolitan area, Gangwon, and Chungcheong regions; the Incheon District Prosecutors' Office will cover Incheon Airport, ports, and the metropolitan and Chungcheong regions; the Busan District Prosecutors' Office will cover Busan Airport, ports, and the Yeongnam region; and the Gwangju District Prosecutors' Office will cover Mokpo and Gunsan ports and the Honam region, conducting joint investigations across all regions nationwide.

The prosecution has judged that recently, drug transactions have been conducted through methods difficult to trace, such as the dark web, secure messengers, and virtual currencies, and that overseas direct purchases via international mail and air express delivery have surged, creating an environment where anyone, regardless of age or social class, can easily access drugs.

Accordingly, the special teams will focus on large-scale drug smuggling and trafficking, illegal distribution of medical narcotics, and internet drug distribution centered on the dark web, conducting joint investigations on a wide-area basis.

The special teams will include drug-specialized prosecutors and drug investigators, airport and port drug smuggling experts from local customs offices, health and medical experts from the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety and local governments, and personnel from the Korea Communications Commission dedicated to blocking and deleting drug sales advertisement sites.

The special teams will be composed of approximately 70 to 80 members, including 10 to 15 drug-specialized prosecutors and drug investigators, 3 to 4 dedicated personnel from local customs, 3 to 4 from the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety and local governments, and 3 personnel from the Korea Communications Commission assigned to three of the four teams (one per team). Each investigation team will consist of 20 to 25 members.

Currently, there are about 250 drug-specialized investigators in the prosecution. Through personnel assignments, 10 to 15 of them will be allocated to each special team, and drug-specialized prosecutors at the four prosecution offices where the special teams are formed will join the teams to handle only drug-related investigations.

During the wide-area joint investigations, information on regional distribution, drug use, and possession offenders identified will be handed over to the police. Drug-specialized prosecutors will handle all warrants and transfer cases related to police investigations, aiming to conduct seamless investigations covering smuggling, distribution, and drug use across wide and individual regions.

The prosecution plans to integrate and analyze major drug inflow country databases, customs drug clearance information, and overseas drug intelligence from the National Intelligence Service, and conduct rapid investigations through real-time cooperation with overseas drug investigation agencies such as the DEA to proactively block the domestic inflow of narcotics.

Additionally, the prosecution will focus on strictly punishing livelihood-related crimes such as voice phishing, jeonse fraud, stalking crimes, and digital sex crimes, and will implement various measures to protect victims.

Since launching the "Voice Phishing Crime Government Joint Investigation Team" in July this year, the prosecution has registered 27 suspects, including foreigners, drug offenders, and organized crime groups involved in voice phishing, and has detained 7 of them. Regarding jeonse fraud crimes, the prosecution plans to consider the actual scale of damage and recovery status as the top priorities for detention investigations and sentencing, and will seek the maximum legal penalty.

To eradicate stalking crimes, a rapid response system "hotline" between prosecution and police has been established nationwide, and efforts are underway to link prosecution and police stalking offender computer systems and build a database. Furthermore, to strengthen responses to sex crimes, the "Women and Children Crime Investigation Division" will be expanded to establish a nationwide specialized response system, and measures will be taken to prevent so-called "clever sentence reductions" to ensure punishments commensurate with the severity of the crimes.

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