Drug Smugglers' "Creative" Tactics Exposed as Seizures Hit Record High

White powder pours out from inside a crib frame.

[It looks like the whole side comes out...]

It is ketamine, a drug predominantly circulated in clubs.

When a motorcycle muffler is cut open, it is densely packed with more than 3 kilograms of illegal drugs.

In the first half of this year alone, over 1 ton of illicit drugs was intercepted while being smuggled into the country.

This amount is enough for 33.58 million people to use simultaneously, marking a record high that is 2.6 times larger than last year.

Smugglers aged 30 or younger accounted for 59 percent of the total, and even 14 teenagers were caught.

[Lee Jong-wook / Commissioner of the Korea Customs Service: The number of teenage drug offenders has surged significantly to reach the 2 percent level, showing that the drug smuggling problem is spreading beyond young adults to teenagers.]

In particular, smuggling drugs by disguising themselves as travelers—rather than using cargo or mail, which carry a higher risk of detection—spiked by 79 percent compared to last year.

The Korea Customs Service has responded by operating 13 dedicated drug inspection checkpoints across six airports nationwide.

Customs officials and drug investigators select inbound passengers suspected of carrying drugs to directly check their baggage, and catch drugs hidden on their bodies using full-body scanners.

What I am holding right now is a test drug.

Let me pass through the scanner while carrying this drug.

As you can see, the drug I am carrying is displayed in red on the scanner screen.

When a suspected drug substance is detected, officers immediately verify its components on-site using a Raman spectrometer—which identifies drug types through light—or rapid test kits.

With drug smuggling through regional international airports such as Daegu and Cheongju surging recently, the Korea Customs Service plans to deploy additional dedicated drug inspection checkpoints at international airports nationwide in the second half of the year.

Caught right at the airport... Over 1 ton marks "record scale" (July 22, 2026, 8 News)

Reported by Kim Seung-tae | Written by Choi Yoon-seo | Video by Kim Jong-mi | Produced by SBS Digital News
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.