1.5 kg of drugs hidden in cardboard packaging slipped past customs

Police have arrested a group that smuggled drugs into South Korea by hiding them inside the corrugated cardboard of delivery boxes and then distributing them domestically. The suspects disguised the packages as ordinary parcels by filling the boxes with kitchen goods.

According to Yonhap, Seoul's Seocho Police Station said it had referred five suspects — including a man in his 30s identified only as A — to prosecutors on charges of violating the Narcotics Control Act and the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes. The referrals were completed by last month. Four of the five were referred in custody; one was referred without detention.

The group is accused of smuggling 1.56 kilograms of ketamine into the country using delivery boxes and other means from May through recently, and of distributing about 2 kilograms of narcotics in total.

Investigators found that the group evaded detection by spreading ketamine and other drugs in thin layers between the corrugated layers of cardboard boxes and vacuum-sealing them.

Kitchen goods and similar items were placed inside the boxes to make them appear to be ordinary deliveries. Drugs concealed this way went undetected by customs officials at Incheon Airport.

The group is believed to have brought the drugs into the country under the direction of an overseas narcotics organization.

During domestic distribution, the suspects also used a method known as "dead drops" — dividing the drugs into small quantities, burying them in parks and other locations in Songpa-gu, Seoul, and having them picked up later.

Police believe delivery workers were also recruited to collect and transport the drugs.

Investigators are continuing to look into whether additional individuals were involved in the group's drug distribution network.