Drugs Found Underground?…New 'Mutdeurap' Drug Distribution Thrives

The drug distribution process is becoming increasingly sophisticated. While the common method used to be ‘throwing’ drugs by placing them on apartment outdoor units or drainage outlets, a new method called ‘buried drop’ has recently emerged, where drugs are buried in the ground and buyers dig them up to retrieve them.

A new type of 'Buridrop' method has been identified, where drug dealers and distributors bury drugs in the ground or soil for buyers to pick up. The police discovered black plastic bags containing drugs buried in a mountain in Yeonsu-gu, Incheon.
[Photo by Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency]

On the 12th, the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency’s Narcotics Crime Investigation Unit announced that they had arrested eight individuals, including a U.S. national identified as A, on charges of violating the Narcotics Control Act. Following the instructions of B, a Chinese national who was the ringleader, they smuggled drugs and distributed them nationwide. The police seized an amount of narcotics sufficient for 75,000 doses from them.

According to the police, their drug distribution method differed from the traditional ‘throwing’ technique. The drug couriers buried drugs underground in places such as hills or parks, and buyers would dig up the ground to retrieve them. Drug dealers call this method ‘buried drop.’ It is a combination of the Korean word for ‘bury’ and the English word ‘drop’ (spelled as ‘deurop’ according to foreign word transcription rules). They conducted drug transactions using the buried drop method three times near a hill in a park in Yeonsu-gu, Incheon. Without marking the locations where the drugs were hidden, they informed buyers of the spots through social networking services (SNS) like Telegram, and buyers would remove the soil in the hills to find the drugs.

Until now, drug dealers mainly distributed narcotics using the throwing method, placing drugs on outdoor units or drainage outlets in apartment complexes and residential areas. Although anyone could easily find these locations, they took advantage of spots that people generally ignored. However, the police suspect that dealers switched to the buried drop method because drugs distributed by throwing were often stolen in the middle of the process. Drug users accustomed to the throwing method frequently rummage through outdoor units or drainage outlets where drugs might have been thrown, often stealing others’ drugs.

The police predict that as drug transactions become more rampant and the volume of drugs to be delivered increases, the buried drop method will become more widespread. In this case as well, the drug couriers buried an amount of drugs equivalent to 50 times the usual quantity delivered by the throwing method in the mountains. A narcotics investigation officer from the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency said, “This is the first time we have seen transactions conducted by burying drugs in the ground. Ordinary people do not expect drugs to be buried in the soil, so this method exploits that gap.”

Buried drop transactions have also started occurring in urban areas without parks or mountains. In July, the Yongsan Police Station in Seoul arrested four members of a drug manufacturing and distribution ring and three couriers on charges of violating the Narcotics Control Act. In this case, the couriers carried spoons and lightly dug into flower beds or park soil in the city, placed the drugs, and then covered them back with soil. A Yongsan Police Station official said, “The throwing method can result in drug loss when it rains or the wind blows. To prevent losing drugs, they hid them by burying them in the soil.”

The police emphasize that investigations are not hindered even if drug dealers use the buried drop method. A Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency official said, “We can identify drug dealers through CCTV footage at trail entrances and other locations leading to the places where drugs are buried.” However, concerns are rising over the ever-changing drug distribution methods. Seung Jae-hyun, a senior researcher at the Korea Institute of Criminology and Justice Policy, said, “Drug dealers always try to avoid the eyes of the police and citizens. To eradicate drug crimes, new investigative techniques must be developed to respond to new methods.”

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