Drugs intercepted at the Incheon Airport Customs International Mail Customs Clearance Center were mistakenly classified as regular mail, only to be urgently retrieved the following day.

According to customs authorities and other sources, around 2:40 p.m. on September 9, about 20 doses of the hallucinogen LSD were discovered during mail sorting at the Incheon Airport Customs International Mail Customs Clearance Center.

The LSD, contained in an envelope in the form of thin paper, was initially classified as an "item suspected of containing drugs" and moved to the inspection room, but detailed inspections were not actually carried out.

The center conducts sorting operations for mail entering South Korea from overseas, and for items in violation, screening is followed by inspection work.

Customs authorities explained that the reason detailed inspections of the LSD were not conducted was because a judgment was made at the joint inspection room that it was "regular mail."

They stated that the inspection did not proceed because an employee who gathered the suspicious items sorted that day and moved them to the inspection room expressed the opinion that there was nothing wrong with the envelope containing the LSD.

However, as the employee who first sorted the item insisted that a drug test was necessary, procedures were initiated to retrieve the mail that had been classified as normal.

During this process, controversy arose as the whereabouts of the mail could not be verified for a time.

The envelope in question was ultimately not found on that day.

The envelope was discovered only on the morning of the next day in an area where mail had been gathered.

However, it was found not at the original destination of Seoul, but in a location housing mail destined for Gwangju.

Following subsequent drug testing, the item was ultimately confirmed to be LSD.

It was reported that inside and outside the organization, claims have been raised that it is necessary to check whether there was any negligence or intentional misconduct in the process of treating the drug-suspected item, which had undergone primary sorting, as regular mail.

A customs official stated, "The drugs were not taken outside," adding, "We are verifying the specific facts regarding the employees involved."