BUSAN — Police have broken up a ring that imported drugs into South Korea through international mail and then sold them to undocumented foreign nationals.
The Busan Metropolitan Police Agency said on the 16th that it had arrested 35 people, including the ring's leader — a Vietnamese woman in her 20s identified only as A — and users of the drugs, on charges of violating the Act on the Control of Narcotics. Fifteen of them were placed in custody.
A is accused of shipping ketamine and ecstasy from Poland to South Korea through international mail between October last year and August this year, disguising the drugs as vitamins before distributing them, police said. Investigators worked with related agencies to set up an undercover buy, arresting A and seizing 17.67 grams of ecstasy and 48.7 grams of ketamine.
Twenty-four of the users were identified as Vietnamese nationals who had stayed in the country after their visas expired and were working at construction sites. They contacted one another through a Vietnamese messaging app and took the drugs at karaoke bars in Busan, Ulsan, Changwon and Cheonan, according to the investigation. Some entertainment venues even supplied the equipment needed to take the drugs, police said.
Police opened the investigation after receiving a tip that undocumented Vietnamese nationals were distributing drugs through karaoke bars and other entertainment venues. They then traced the sales network's transaction routes, identified the ring's leader and made the arrest through the undercover buy.
"We are conducting an intensive crackdown on drug crimes involving foreign nationals," a police official said. "We ask the public to actively report and provide information on drug distribution and use."
