10 cases caught after second inspection line launched; customs overhauls drug investigation system
A second drug interdiction line established by the Korea Customs Service for international mail has produced notable results.
Since April, the agency has operated a dual drug inspection system at five major postal sorting centers nationwide in cooperation with Korea Post, subjecting international mail that clears the border-level inspection to an additional round of screening.
The Korea Customs Service said Thursday it had detected 10 drug cases through the second interdiction line between April and July, and arrested all suspects immediately following each discovery — achieving a 100 percent apprehension rate.
Of the 10 cases caught at the second line, five were detected at the Anyang sorting center, two each at the Bucheon and Daejeon centers, and one at the East Seoul center. Customs investigators handled nine of the 10 cases independently, using controlled-delivery techniques to secure the perfect arrest record.
The agency's 39 drug investigation teams, staffed by 325 special judicial police officers, handled 859 of the 954 drug cases — totaling 1,054 kilograms — detected through July this year, and referred them to prosecutors.
As the investigative body directly responsible for 90 percent of all drug cases caught at the border, the service launches investigations immediately upon detection, using cargo and recipient information to secure the critical early window for drug investigations.
Particularly through controlled-delivery operations, the agency tracks not only couriers but also domestic distribution networks and the criminal organizations behind them, cutting off drug smuggling and domestic distribution attempts at the source.
Meanwhile, the Korea Customs Service has been overhauling its drug investigation framework since last year to continuously strengthen its capabilities — expanding its organizational structure, personnel and equipment, revamping training programs and putting internal oversight mechanisms in place.
The first area of reform covers organizational and personnel expansion. The number of drug investigation special judicial police officers has grown from roughly 100 to 325, with reinforcements added at customs offices nationwide. In the second half of this year, the agency also plans to establish a physical response team to handle high-risk situations in the field, such as suspects fleeing or resisting arrest.
On the equipment side, the agency has introduced new investigative tools including Taser guns and distributed them to customs offices across the country, while also expanding the deployment of tracking and surveillance equipment for covert suspect monitoring and on-site evidence collection.
To strengthen investigator competency, the agency has fully revamped its training curriculum — making criminal law and criminal procedure education mandatory and expanding physical response training such as arrest techniques. It has also expanded practical specialist training in digital forensics and virtual asset tracking and analysis to help investigators pursue accomplices and criminal networks through evidence.
For internal oversight, the agency has established legal advisory positions at major regional customs headquarters to ensure investigative integrity through legal support, while also putting in place controls to check for procedural violations, evidence admissibility issues and abuse of investigative authority at every stage of an investigation.
In addition to these internal capacity-building efforts, the Korea Customs Service plans to build active cooperation frameworks — including joint investigations and intelligence sharing — with related investigative agencies, including the new Serious Crime Investigation Agency set to launch in October, to ensure no gaps emerge in drug enforcement following the restructuring of the criminal justice system.
Korea Customs Service Commissioner Lee Jong-wook said the agency was "not stopping at detecting drugs at the border, but tracking and arresting final domestic recipients and the organizations behind them using a range of investigative techniques, including controlled-delivery expertise." He added that the agency would "mobilize the full force of customs investigative capabilities to pursue and apprehend drug smuggling and domestic distribution networks to the end, and eradicate drugs that threaten the safety of the public and society."
kwonhl@heraldcorp.com
