Drug smuggling increases 42-fold last year

Drug smuggling is rapidly increasing and methods of secreting illegal narcotics into the country are growing more sophisticated.

According to the Kimpo Customs, a total of 51kg of narcotics were impounded from smugglers at Kimpo International Airport last year, 42 times more than the 1.2kg reported in the previous year.

The value of the drugs came to 13.5 billion won, a 25-fold increase from 524 million won in 1999.

By type, marijuana topped the list with 45kg, followed by philopon with 4.3kg, opium with 1.2kg and hemp resin with 0.4kg.

South Africa was found to be the largest source of smuggled drugs with 44.3kg, ahead of China with 5.828kg and Thailand with 1.44kg.

Smuggling methods are also growing increasingly diverse. In seven cases, smugglers hid narcotics in bodily orifices or in the soles of their shoes. In four cases, drugs were hidden among the smuggler`s personal belongings. Officials said that some smugglers sprinkled marijuana with powdered red pepper in attempts to fool drug-sniffing dogs.

Song Jin-Hup jinhup@donga.com