'Hiding Drugs Inside Bicycle Saddles'... Police Arrest 8 Members of Drug Smuggling and Distribution Ring

A group involved in smuggling and distributing drugs domestically by hiding them in bicycle saddles and baseball bats was arrested by the police. It is known that they cut the leather of the bicycle saddles, removed the internal padding, concealed the drugs inside, and then resewed them to evade customs surveillance. They also used the hollow space inside the head of aluminum baseball bats for concealment.

The bicycle seat where a drug smuggling and distribution gang concealed drugs to evade customs inspections.
Photo by Taewon Choi skking@

The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency's Narcotics Crime Investigation Unit announced in a briefing on the morning of the 16th that they had arrested 8 out of 13 suspects charged with violating the Narcotics Control Act, and detained 2 of them. Arrest warrants were issued for 4 other suspects, and Interpol red notices were requested for 2 masterminds residing overseas.

The group, composed of Korean and Chinese nationals aged between their 20s and 50s, is suspected of smuggling and distributing drugs domestically by hiding them in bicycle saddles and kitchenware using air express shipments from Thailand in a total of five instances from November 2021 to February last year. The smuggled drugs included 7,069g of Philopon, 869g of Ketamine, and 500 Ecstasy pills, valued at approximately 25 billion KRW.

The police received intelligence in July 2021 that drugs were being sold on a specific Telegram channel and launched an investigation. The investigation team accessed Telegram directly, conducted undercover transactions, and analyzed CCTV footage to sequentially arrest domestic distributors and smugglers.

Following statements from the arrested suspects, the identities of the overseas masterminds were identified. Except for one deceased individual, arrest warrants were issued for two others, and Interpol red notices were requested on April 25.

Additionally, they are suspected of attempting to smuggle 499g of Philopon concealed in a baseball bat shipped via air express from the United States on November 10 last year, but were caught by U.S. customs, resulting in a failed attempt. The police also arrested domestic accomplices who appeared at the Philopon receiving location through joint investigations with the U.S.

Meanwhile, the smuggled drugs were delivered using a throwing method through domestic distributors. Some sellers reportedly handed over packages containing Philopon via express bus terminal baggage delivery services to users to evade law enforcement tracking.

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