![A woman caught in April attempting to enter South Korea with cannabis taped to her legs and body after obtaining the drug in Thailand. [Gwangjin Police Station]](https://wimg.heraldcorp.com/news/cms/2026/06/11/news-p.v1.20260611.9bf7235ae7d546dca2ab6a3de93a530a_P1.jpg)
Police have arrested a series of drug smugglers who concealed narcotics on or inside their bodies while attempting to bring them into South Korea for retail distribution.
Seoul's Gwangjin Police Station said Thursday it had apprehended a Brazilian man in his 40s and a South Korean woman in her 30s on charges of smuggling methamphetamine and cannabis from Laos and Thailand.
The Brazilian man divided roughly 1 kilogram of methamphetamine into small portions, vacuum-sealed each one and swallowed them before traveling through Thailand, Malaysia and China to enter South Korea, where he then retrieved the drugs. Police arrested and detained him last month at a motel in Incheon.
The South Korean woman was arrested at Incheon International Airport in April after attempting to enter the country with cannabis taped to her legs and body, having divided the drug into small packets in Thailand. Police subsequently tracked down and detained nine distributors who had been waiting to receive the cannabis from her.
In the course of investigating the two cases, police seized 1,257 grams of methamphetamine, 200 grams of cannabis and 50 grams of ketamine — a combined street value of approximately 540 million won ($355,000) and enough to supply roughly 40,000 users simultaneously.
Police warned that smuggled narcotics are often distributed through "drop methods," in which drugs are left at prearranged locations for pickup, and urged the public to call 112 immediately if they spot suspicious individuals or objects.
betterj@heraldcorp.com
