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National Police Agency. / Park Sung-il, Reporter

Police apprehended over 5,000 drug offenders in the first half of this year. In the second half, they will focus crackdown efforts on online drugs and drug crimes by foreign nationals, taking steps to block distribution channels using social networking services (SNS) and virtual assets.

The National Investigative Headquarters (NIH) of the National Police Agency announced on August 2 that it conducted an intensive crackdown on new synthetic drugs, medical narcotics, and drugs around entertainment districts for four months from March to June, apprehending 5,203 drug offenders and arresting 1039 of them. As a result of intensive enforcement against transnational drug and scam crimes, which have been on the rise recently, the total number of apprehensions rose 1.8% compared to the same period last year. Apprehensions of manufacturing and smuggling offenders increased 26.7%, and sellers increased 9.0%, achieving progress in severing supply chains.

Through the inter-agency Joint Council on New Synthetic Drugs, police apprehended 4,300 psychotropic drug offenders (methamphetamine, synthetic cannabis, ketamine, etc.) in the first half of the year. Sharing overseas intelligence with the National Intelligence Service and conducting joint investigations with the Korea Customs Service, police apprehended a suspect who smuggled 42 kilograms of ketamine from the United Kingdom into Daegu International Airport.

Enforcement against the misuse and abuse of medical narcotics also expanded through cooperation. In the process of investigating an incident in February where a driver under the influence of propofol crashed off the Banpo Bridge, police shared with the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety details of the suspect visiting multiple hospitals and clinics. Following a full-scale investigation, the ministry requested police investigations into suspected hospitals, clinics, and addiction-suspected patients.

Police will continue the intensive crackdown on drug crimes in the second half of the year through the end of December. In addition to existing new synthetic and medical narcotics, online drugs and foreign national drug crimes have been additionally designated as key enforcement areas. Online drug investigations will trace distribution channels centered around dedicated online teams at provincial police agencies, while utilizing dedicated virtual asset tracking and investigation teams to crack down heavily on unregistered virtual asset over-the-counter (OTC) dealers abused as drug transaction channels.

Hong Seok-ki, head of the National Investigative Headquarters at the National Police Agency, said, "We will block the domestic inflow of narcotics by strengthening cooperation with domestic and international agencies such as overseas law enforcement agencies and customs, while concentrating investigative capabilities on apprehending domestic distribution offenders."

                                                                                                               Lee Ha-eun