Drug Smuggling

[Anchor Lead]

A group of Thai people have been apprehended while attempting to smuggle two billion won worth of methamphetamine into Korea. The amount was enough for 20,000 people to use. Here is more.

[Pkg]

A courier delivers an internationally mailed parcel to a grocery store for foreigners. The next day, three Thai women come to the store to get the parcel. The women, in fact, came to pick up methamphetamine that had been sent from overseas. They were later arrested by police. Six people were involved in the scheme to distribute the illegal drug. All of them were Thai. They smuggled in 675 grams of the substance worth 2.2 billion won from Laos by international mail on March 16. The amount is enough for 20,000 people to use. They attempted to avoid customs inspection at Incheon International Airport by masking the drug as nutritional supplements. The perpetrators tried to distribute the substance in Jeollabuk-do Province, as customs clearance is stricter in Gyeongsangbuk-do Province, which has a large population of migrant workers.

[Soundbite] Park Byung-yeon(Jeonbuk Provincial Police Agency) : "They distributed the drug in the rural areas of Jeollabuk-do Province, which look less suspicious, as crackdowns on illegal drugs have been strengthened and customs clearance procedures on international mail are stricter in the Gyeongsang region."

Korean police have requested the International Criminal Police Organization to help capture the drug supplier in Thailand. They are also expanding the investigation, believing that the illegal drug might have been purchased by domestic and foreign residents.