Narcotics seizures jump in 2013: customs data

The amount of narcotics confiscated in South Korea jumped in 2013 as illegal drugs are smuggled in through increasingly diverse means, the customs office said Wednesday.

The Korea Customs Service said in a report that it confiscated a total of 46.4 kilograms of drugs last year, up 38 percent from a year earlier.

The amount is estimated at about 93 billion won ($86.6 million), up 46 percent from a year earlier, the KCS said. The amount and its value are the largest since 2004.

The amount of confiscated methamphetamine, also known here as “philopon,” jumped 44 percent over the same period.

The KCS said the increase is due in part to the growing scale of drug smuggling. Some snuck in small amounts through international mail, and Korea was used as a stopover for delivery to other countries, it said. (Yonhap)