South Korean police have arrested 34 individuals in a raid on a suspected crypto-powered medication smuggling ring, officers introduced on Might 16.
Per Newsis, police seized 90,000 doses of medication together with methamphetamine (crystal meth), artificial marijuana, and ketamine.
Officers stated the ring used Vietnam-based smugglers to cover the medication in cosmetics merchandise.
Gang members then allegedly despatched these merchandise to South Korea through worldwide courier providers.
Crypto-powered Medicine Smuggling Ring ‘Hid Narcotics on Mountain’
Police stated that they had remanded 9 individuals in custody, together with two suspected South Korean ringleaders (each aged 36).
Officers added that that they had charged 25 different individuals with associated crimes. Police say the ring was energetic from August 2023 to April this 12 months.
A police spokesperson added that the ring bought the narcotics on-line to crypto-paying consumers. The group reportedly made use of Telegram as a communications software.
Objects seized by the police in raids. (Supply: Chungbuk Provincial Police Company)
Latest experiences have claimed that Korean-language Telegram channels have grow to be a “division retailer” for drug consumers and sellers.
Chungbuk Police Company stated its prison process power’s drug crime investigation unit carried out the raids.
A police spokesperson defined that the suspected masterminds hid the medication they obtained in a “gap in a mountainside.”
When police investigated this hiding place, they discovered virtually six liters of artificial marijuana resolution.
This haul alone is “price over $1 million” on the home market, officers instructed reporters.
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Investigators additionally discovered 181g of methamphetamine and 31g of ketamine, all “buried underneath the bottom within the countryside.”
Officers stated that gang members would periodically come to the hiding place to divide the artificial marijuana “into 10ml items (vials).”
They’d then “promote these via social media channels reminiscent of Telegram.” In every case, recipients would “pay in cryptocurrency,” police stated.
The headquarters of the Chungbuk Provincial Police Company. (Supply: hyolee2 [CC BY-SA 3.0])
Investigation Nonetheless Ongoing, Say Police
Police launched pictures of lipstick and different cosmetics containers. They defined that the gang hid medication inside these containers earlier than sending them from Vietnam.
Officers stated that they had additionally seized funds price over $245,000. They added that the investigation is ongoing.
The spokesperson stated police suspect that “different individuals” could also be concerned, “together with abroad suppliers.”
Park Ji-hwan, the unit’s head, stated all of the instances had been handed over to the prosecution service.
The police chief additionally referred to as on the general public to “report any suspected cases” of crypto-powered drug crime “to the investigative companies.”
Final 12 months, President Yoon Suk-yeol declared an “all-out warfare” on crypto-powered drug trafficking, following an enormous increase in youth drug crime.