The government said it will conduct a two-month, pan-government joint crackdown on narcotics from Mar. 16 to May 15.
According to the government, this special crackdown will move beyond simple busts to a multi-layered approach that includes blocking inflows at the border stage, eradicating contactless distribution networks, and eliminating narcotics that harm people's livelihoods.
First, to block narcotics inflows at the border stage, the government will strengthen joint searches and thorough inspections of high-risk vessels, cargo, and travelers. When the Korea Customs Service selects high-risk vessels departing from suspect countries, the relevant agencies will conduct joint searches. The plan is to analyze narcotics offender information provided by the relevant agencies to select high-risk travelers for narcotics and subject them to thorough inspections.
Contactless distribution networks such as Telegram and the dark web will also be blocked. Authorities plan to swiftly block online advertisements for narcotics sales and to trace not only distribution rings but also the criminal funding sources to uproot the upper echelons of the organizations. In fact, since its launch in Nov. last year, the Government Joint Investigation Headquarters on Narcotics Crimes at the Supreme Prosecutors' Office has booked 130 major narcotics offenders and arrested 58 of them.
In addition, to block online distribution, the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office and the joint investigation headquarters will jointly focus on cracking down on distribution rings that use the dark web and the internet, expand the detection scope of AI-based "E-drug" monitoring, request deletion and blocking of posts based on collected information, and carry out enforcement against distributors through undercover transactions.
In addition, the Korean National Police Agency decided to fundamentally block online narcotics distribution routes that use virtual assets through a dedicated investigative framework for virtual assets. It said 2,870 online narcotics offenders were arrested from Sep. last year to Feb. this year. The plan also aims to cut the momentum of narcotics distribution rings by tracing, freezing, and recovering illegal revenue obtained through crimes.
The government also plans to root out club drugs and medical narcotics, which are considered narcotics that harm people's livelihoods.
First, authorities will conduct visible joint crackdowns in vulnerable areas such as entertainment districts and neighborhoods with high concentrations of foreigners. For entertainment venues, inspections inside establishments will be carried out during peak hours such as late at night on weekends.
To eradicate the recent problem of abuse and misuse of medical narcotics such as propofol, the Ministery of Food and Drug Safety will conduct in-depth analysis of big data from the Integrated Narcotics Management System to identify medical institutions at risk of abuse and those suspected of using the names of deceased persons or others, and will check for violations through joint inspections with the ministry, police, and local governments. The Supreme Prosecutors' Office also decided to focus on cracking down on illegal distribution of medical narcotics through teams such as the "medical narcotics specialized investigation team."
The government also conducted a joint special crackdown on narcotics last year, cracking down on a total of 7,666 people and seizing 2,703 kilograms of narcotics. The government said it will continue a zero-tolerance enforcement stance on narcotics crimes this time as well.