U.S. investigators uncovered an international drug trafficking ring that had been smuggling and distributing large quantities of Korean-made "mulppong" (GHB) precursor.
The U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia said in a news release on the 7th (local time) that it "uncovered a multinational drug trafficking organization that had been distributing California-made methamphetamine and Korea-made gamma-butyrolactone (GBL) along the U.S. East Coast," and that "a federal grand jury indicted 11 members of the organization on five counts, including drug trafficking and money laundering."
Methamphetamine is commonly known as "philopon," and GBL is a key precursor for GHB, known as "mulppong." GHB is widely misused in sex crimes and is strictly regulated in many countries.
Investigators found the group set up a front cosmetics company to disguise Korea-made GBL as a cleanser or beauty product to bring it into the United States, then distributed it using encrypted messengers and parcel delivery networks.
From January 2023 through last month, they operated mainly in the U.S. Northeast connecting New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington, D.C., and were found attempting to expand into Chicago, Florida and California.
The bust was achieved through close cooperation between Korean and U.S. law enforcement. U.S. prosecutors said it was "a representative case of disrupting an international drug supply chain through cooperation between the U.S. Homeland Security Task Force (HSTF) and Korean investigative agencies."
Earlier, Korean investigators seized 1.5 tons of GBL in September last year and arrested five Koreans. In the United States, more than 35 kilograms of high-purity meth and about 800 kilograms of GBL were seized. U.S. prosecutors said it was "one of the largest amounts of GBL seized in the U.S. East Coast region."