Drugs disguised as tea packaging have been discovered once again along the coast of Jeju Island.

The Jeju Regional Coast Guard announced that at 8:30 a.m. yesterday (the 17th), a marine environment keeper performing cleanup activities at Gwangchigi Beach in Seongsan-eup, Seogwipo, found drugs wrapped in a 1 kg silver tea package.

At the time of discovery, the exterior of the silver tea package was discolored and torn, leading authorities to estimate that it had been drifting along ocean currents for a considerable period.

The Coast Guard explained that the object is similar to the tea-packaged ketamine that has been found repeatedly along the Jeju coast, and a preliminary reagent test yielded a positive result.

This is an additional case identified since ketamine wrapped in tea packaging was found near the coast of Hwasun Thermal Power Plant in Anduk-myeon, Seogwipo, on May 30.

As a result, a total of 40 kg of drugs disguised as tea bags have been found across 23 instances since September 29 of last year along the coasts of Jeju Port, Aewol-eup, Jocheon-eup, Gujwa-eup, Yongdam Port, Udo in Jeju City, and Gwangchigi Beach in Seongsan-eup, Seogwipo.

A Coast Guard official stated, "We conducted an additional search around the discovery site, but no further items were found," and urged, "If you discover objects with similar packaging along the coast, please do not touch them directly and report them to the Coast Guard immediately."

Taiwanese investigative authorities and the Jeju Coast Guard previously stated in an interim investigation briefing that, judging by the packaging type and variety of the ketamine found on the Jeju coast, it is highly likely that some of the drugs lost at sea near Taiwan drifted along ocean currents to the Jeju coast.

(Photo provided by Jeju Regional Coast Guard, Yonhap News)