Gyeongnam Police Agency at War with Drugs... 232 Foreign Drug Offenders Arrested This Year

Joint Full-Scale Response of All Functions in Dokyeong Jeon

The Gyeongnam Provincial Police Agency has arrested 232 drug offenders from January this year until the 24th.

Among them, 32 were foreign drug offenders, accounting for 13.8% of the total, the agency announced on the 31st.

Gyeongnam Provincial Police Agency.
Photo by Lee Seryeong

According to the Provincial Police Agency, out of a total of 149 suspects caught for using narcotics classified as psychotropic drugs, 30 were foreigners, making up 20.1%.

From March 2022 to February this year, 41 foreigners, including Vietnamese nationals, were arrested for smuggling, distributing, and using narcotics worth approximately 3.3 billion KRW, including 25,348 tablets of Thukrak, via international mail from overseas, with 27 of them being detained.

In March, four foreigners who used ecstasy at a nightlife establishment operated by a Vietnamese person in Yangsan were arrested, and in April, two foreigners were arrested and detained in Juchon, Gimhae City?one for selling synthetic methamphetamine called yaba, and the other for purchasing and using it.

In May, a foreign man and woman were arrested and detained in Changwon and Yangsan on charges of selling and using methamphetamine and yaba to nightlife workers.

2023 Drug Offender Arrest Status of Foreigners in Gyeongnam Province and Arrest Status Over the Past 5 Years. [Data Provided by Gyeongnam Police Agency]

The number of foreign drug offenders in the province has remained steady, with 36 in 2018, 25 in 2019, 51 in 2020, 48 in 2021, and 60 in 2022.

The Provincial Police Agency explained that recently, foreign drug offenders have been organizing into groups and evolving into organized crimes such as drug trafficking, and they are responding strongly.

A representative of the Provincial Police Agency said, “To eradicate drug crimes, we are operating a joint task force led by the head of the Gyeongnam Provincial Police Agency and are conducting strong crackdowns to make Gyeongnam safe from drugs.”

They added, “We are thoroughly protecting the safety and confidentiality of crime reporters and informants,” and said, “We hope the community shares the awareness that drug use is an irreversible crime and that all residents actively cooperate to eradicate drug crimes.”

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