Foreign students caught selling drugs in S. Korea; 66-member network dismantled

Gyeonggi Nambu police bust foreign drug ring

Members united by shared Southeast Asian nationality

Ecstasy tablets found to have been manufactured locally

Police have arrested 66 foreign nationals, including international students, who distributed drugs across Gyeonggi Province and other parts of South Korea. The image shows drug tablets and a staged scene of officers conducting a search. [AI-generated image]

A group of foreign nationals, including international students enrolled at South Korean universities, has been arrested for running an organized drug distribution network. The suspects shared a common nationality from a specific Southeast Asian country, banded together and manufactured drugs for sale. Police seized narcotics worth about 800 million won ($589,000) from the group and detained those most actively involved in sales.

The Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police Agency's wide-area investigation unit said Monday it had booked and referred to prosecutors 66 foreign nationals — including international students — on charges of violating the Narcotics Control Act for distributing drugs through social media. Of the 66, 30 who took part in distribution and sales were referred in detention.

Ecstasy and other narcotics seized from the foreign student drug distribution network. [Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police Agency]

In the course of dismantling the network, police seized 4,100 ecstasy tablets, about 1.6 kilograms of ketamine and tablet-pressing equipment, with a combined street value of about 800 million won.

All 66 suspects are foreign nationals who came together through a shared connection to a specific Southeast Asian country. Of the 66, 27 were international students attending universities in Gyeonggi Province and the Chungcheong provinces. The remaining suspects had entered South Korea on marriage visas or short-term stay visas and became involved in the drug ring while living in the country.

The group smuggled narcotics into South Korea from abroad and distributed them domestically from March through October. Members received the smuggled drugs and bought and sold them through social media. To evade law enforcement, the ring operated as a cell-based organization — a structure typical of drug distribution networks — in which individual members had limited knowledge of one another.

A tablet press used by the foreign student drug distribution network. Powder fed into the machine is compressed into pill form. [Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police Agency]

The network also reprocessed narcotics into a form easier to sell. Police believe members used a tablet press in a studio apartment near a university campus to compress powder into ecstasy pills.

The arrests were part of a crackdown on foreign-national crime that the Korean National Police Agency launched in August. Gyeonggi Nambu police had been gathering intelligence on areas with high concentrations of foreign residents when they received a tip that international students were distributing drugs among themselves.

A police official said the investigation was significant because it went beyond arresting individual users and succeeded in cutting off the distribution network. Police said they are continuing the investigation to identify and apprehend those higher up the supply chain, including suppliers and manufacturers.

"We plan to further strengthen intelligence-gathering on drug distribution and other crimes centered on areas with high concentrations of international students and foreign residents," the official said. "We will respond strictly to illegal activities by foreign nationals staying in South Korea."

20ki@heraldcorp.com