Prosecutors Arrest Over 2,000 Drug Offenders This Year, a 53% Increase Compared to Last Year

Possibility of Breaking 'Last Year's Record' with the Highest Number of Arrests Ever
1,245 Drug Offenders in Their 20s and 30s... Including 84 Minors

Prosecutors have found that the number of drug offenders detected in January this year increased by more than 50% compared to January last year. Since the number of drug offenders detected for the first time this year has significantly increased compared to last year, it seems highly likely that this year will break the record set last year for the highest number of detections ever.

Supreme Prosecutors' Office, Seocho-gu, Seoul.

According to the Drug and Organized Crime Division of the Supreme Prosecutors' Office (Chief Prosecutor Park Young-bin) on the 14th, a total of 2,017 drug offenders were detected in January, an increase of 53.6% compared to the same period last year (1,313 people).

Comparing by drug type with the same period last year, ▲ marijuana offenders increased from 294 to 413 ▲ narcotics offenders from 43 to 72 ▲ psychotropic drugs (hyangjeong) offenders from 976 to 1,531, showing an overall increase in drug offenders, with a particularly sharp rise in hyangjeong offenders.

By type of drug offender, users accounted for the highest number at 900, followed by dealers at 719. Those in possession of drugs were confirmed to be 126. Among the users, hyangjeong users numbered 698, marijuana users 173, and narcotics users 29, with the proportion of hyangjeong users being overwhelmingly high.

Among the arrested drug offenders, 1,501 (74.4%) were male and 516 (25.6%) were female. By age group, those in their 20s and 30s were the largest at 1,245, followed by those in their 40s at 288, 50s at 248, 60 and older at 102, and minors aged 15 to 19 reached 84, of which 3 were under 15 years old.

By occupation, the unemployed were the largest group at 553, followed by company employees at 136, laborers at 72, and students at 71. Medical workers numbered 30, and teachers including professors were confirmed to be 7.

The total amount of seized drugs was 93.2 kg. Compared to the same period last year, synthetic marijuana or spice, classified as hyangjeong and known as ‘JWH’ and its analogues, surged by 3,374%, cocaine by 459%, marijuana by 367%, and Yaba, which means ‘crazy drug’ in Thai, exploded by 228%.

By region, the Seoul metropolitan area including Seoul, Incheon, and Gyeonggi accounted for nearly half of the total crackdown personnel at 49.7% (1,004 people), followed by Busan with 150, Incheon with 131, Gyeongnam with 84, Daegu with 80, Chungnam with 75, and Gwangju with 69. Foreign drug offenders were counted as 55 from China, 31 from Thailand, and 29 from Vietnam.

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