"Retired Defense Industry Worker Leads Smuggling of 'Firearm Parts' to Middle East"

A group secretly exporting firearm parts to Middle Eastern countries was caught in a customs crackdown. The ringleader was confirmed to be a retired defense industry worker.

On the 28th, the Busan Customs Office of the Korea Customs Service announced that it had sent A (in his 50s, ringleader) and B (in his 50s, accomplice) to the Busan District Prosecutors' Office without detention on charges of violating the Customs Act and the Foreign Trade Act.

Seized firearm parts are displayed. Photo by Korea Customs Service

According to Busan Customs, A and others are suspected of illegally exporting a total of approximately 480,000 military supplies, including firearm parts and accessories and production equipment, to a state-owned defense industry company (Company P) in a Middle Eastern country 280 times from September 2019 to March of last year.

After retiring from a defense industry company, A and others manufactured firearm parts identical to those of their former employer and illegally exported them without the Defense Acquisition Program Administration’s permission, eventually being caught through a joint investigation by Busan Customs and the National Intelligence Service.

During the illegal export process, A and others disguised the names of firearm parts and accessories as parts of machine tools or general steel products unrelated to weapons, or falsely declared weapon production equipment as general industrial production equipment that does not require permission from the Defense Acquisition Program Administration.

Provided by Korea Customs Service

In particular, the ringleader A, while working as an export manager at K Company, a leading domestic firearm manufacturing defense company, collected information such as drawings and experimental data by sending them via personal email with the intent to divert overseas clients. Using the gathered information, he produced identical firearm parts and exported them to Company P, an actual client of K Company.

A Busan Customs official said, “With the recent instability in international affairs due to the Russia-Ukraine war, interest in K-defense industry is also increasing. Considering this situation, customs will strengthen crackdowns to prevent the illegal export of strategic materials that threaten national security as a responsible member of the international community.”

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