Rise in Online Drug Deals Leads to Record Arrests
The number of people caught for narcotics offenses in Korea hit a record high in 2015, mainly due to a rise in online drug deals.
According to a white paper from the Supreme Prosecutors' Office on Monday, the number of people arrested for drug crimes rose 19.4 percent from a year earlier to 11,916.
And already in the first half of this year 6,876 people were arrested. "At this rate, arrests could surpass 15,000 this year", a prosecution spokesman said.
Some 82.5 kg of narcotics were confiscated last year, up 13.6 percent from 72.6 kg in 2014.
The number of arrests for drug crimes surpassed 10,000 for the first time in 1999, shortly after the Asian financial crisis but fell to 7,000 in 2002 after a major crackdown on drug gangs, only to rise again to 11,875 in 2009, just after the global financial crisis.
Prosecutors say the main reason for the rise is that more people buy drugs online, with deliveries arriving by international mail.
One drug dealer was arrested in June last year for peddling ecstasy to some 80 people, including teachers and doctors, via smartphone messaging after ordering it by mail from China, Hong Kong and the U.S.
The amount of narcotics mail orders that were confiscated rose from 10.96 kg or 134 cases in 2011 to 15.97 kg or 262 cases last year, accounting for 20 percent of all narcotics seized.
Smuggling routes has diversified from China to Japan, Southeast Asia and even Mexico. North Korean narcotics have also been seized, which led to the arrests of 25 North Korean defectors and ethnic Koreans from China in May.
Drugs smuggled by Japanese or Chinese crime organizations are also proliferating. Last year, a Yakuza gang member was arrested trying to smuggle in 10 kg of methamphetamines, and the number of attempts keeps rising.
Easier access has also led to an increase in teenage and female users. Last year, 2,272 women were arrested for drug offenses, accounting for 19.1 percent of total drug offenses. The proportion of minor offenders under 19 almost tripled from 0.4 percent in 2012 to 1.1 percent in 2015.
Source from :Hancinema