"Young Drug Offenders Mass Arrested, Caught in Dark Web Transactions"

Drug offenders who purchased and used drugs through the dark web and social networking services (SNS) were arrested one after another.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

On the 28th, the Narcotics Crime Investigation Unit of the Metropolitan Investigation Division of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency announced that 452 drug offenders who illegally distributed and sold drugs through the dark web were booked on charges of violating the Narcotics Control Act, among whom three sellers were arrested.

Four virtual asset exchange operators, who were used by the drug offenders to pay for purchases during drug transactions, were also booked on charges of violating the Act on Reporting and Using Specified Financial Transaction Information.

According to the police, the group of sellers is suspected of selling 600g of marijuana, 60 ecstasy pills, and 2g of methamphetamine from November 2019 to February last year.

Buyers received the drugs by visiting specific locations where the sellers had hidden the drugs, a method known as the "throwing method," after purchasing them through SNS and the dark web.

In this process, the virtual asset exchange operators played a role by converting the purchase funds received from buyers into virtual assets and transferring them to the sellers.

Police investigations confirmed that the majority of buyers and users were young people in their 20s and 30s.

A police official stated, "It is presumed that relatively internet-savvy young people purchase drugs through the dark web and SNS," adding, "Although the dark web guarantees anonymity and users may think they will not be caught by investigative agencies, specialized investigation personnel are constantly monitoring and cracking down, so they will inevitably be caught in the investigation net."

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