SEOUL – South Korea’s prosecution team, in cooperation with Malaysian police, has busted an international drug cartel and tracked down its manufacturing facility, said officials as reported by Yonhap news agency today.
The Supreme Prosecutors Office (SPO) said it worked with the customs office to confiscate 16.4kg of methamphetamine shipped into the country from Malaysia in January to March, and shared criminal information and drug trafficking methods with the Royal Malaysia Police (PDRM).
Based on the intelligence, PDRM apprehended 13 members of an international drug trafficking organisation based in Kuala Lumpur. They also seized drugs worth 5.42 billion won (RM19.8 million), including 64kg of ketamine and 12.2kg of methamphetamine, and the cartel’s production facility.
The SPO said one of the arrested organisation members was found to have trafficked 8.2kg and 7.6kg of methamphetamine seized by Incheon and Cheongju Prosecutors’ Offices, respectively, in January last year.
It said the confiscated amount of methamphetamine from Malaysia spiked from 3.6kg last year to 16.4kg as of the first quarter of this year. In 2018 and 2019, a combined 40kg of the drug was seized.
Cases of people carrying drugs on flights have dropped due to strengthened immigration procedures amid the pandemic, but cases of drugs smuggled via international shipping and Express Mail Service, or hidden in clothes and food, have increased.
To crack down on such crimes, SPO said, officials have beefed up surveillance of deliveries from Malaysia and shared acquired information, such as identification of consignors, with foreign police.
As part of its anti-drug trafficking drive, SPO said it is conducting a joint probe into drug crimes with Thailand, and planning to strengthen cooperation with Laos’ investigative authorities to prevent drugs from being trafficked into South Korea. – Bernama, April 1, 2021
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