'700 Million Won Drug Smuggling' Overseas Resident High School Student Arrested After Returning Home for Vacation

Suspected Smuggling of 2,900g Ketamine via International Cargo from Germany
Accomplice Who Provided Korean Address and Customs Code Is on Trial

A high school student living abroad who attempted to smuggle drugs worth around 700 million KRW into the country was caught at the airport after returning home for vacation.

On the 28th, the Incheon District Prosecutors' Office Special Investigation Team for Drug Crimes (Chief Prosecutor Kim Yeon-sil) announced that they had arrested and indicted high school student A (18), residing in Dubai, on charges of violating the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes related to psychotropic substances. A returned to Korea from Dubai with his parents on the 8th during vacation and was arrested by prosecutors at Incheon International Airport.

Drugs smuggled into the country hidden inside a pancake machine
[Photo by Incheon District Prosecutors' Office, Yonhap News]

A is accused of attempting to secretly bring 2,900g of ketamine (worth approximately 740 million KRW) hidden inside a pancake cooking machine into Korea through Incheon Airport as international cargo on May 26. A committed the crime together with accomplices, friend B (18) and C (31). A and B have been middle school classmates, and C was someone they met through social networking services (SNS).

B provided A with a Korean address to receive the drugs, and C provided contact information and a personal customs clearance code. A then passed this information to the drug dealer in Germany, who sent the ketamine to Korea. German customs detected the drugs during the clearance process and requested cooperation from Korea. Prosecutors tracked the cargo route and arrested B at the delivery location. Subsequently, C was also arrested through digital forensic analysis of mobile phones.

Prosecutors arrested B and C last month and sent them to trial first. While investigating B and others, prosecutors had already obtained an arrest warrant for A, a Korean currently attending high school in Dubai, and issued a red notice through Interpol.

Ketamine is a psychotropic drug known as a so-called "club drug" among young people. The 2,900g that A and others attempted to smuggle is enough for 60,000 people to use simultaneously.

A prosecutor stated, "Recently, even teenagers have been involved in drug smuggling," adding, "We will continue to thoroughly track drug smuggling organizations and respond strictly to drug crimes involving youth."

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