NIS employee nabbed for allegedly smuggling new type of synthetic drug

A South Korean official of the state intelligence agency has been arrested on suspicion of smuggling a new type of synthetic drug via international air mail, the prosecution said Friday.

According to the Suwon Provincial Police Agency, the prosecutors booked the suspect without physical detention on Oct. 11 for allegedly violating country’s law of drug control.

Under South Korean law, it is illegal to possess, use, import, export or sell drugs except for those in charge of the synthetic drugs.

The suspect, a deputy director of the NIS, tried to hide around 250 grams of synthetic DMT, a hallucinogenic drug, in international air mail which was sent from the Netherlands to Incheon International Airport.

When the package was discovered to contain narcotics, prosecutors apprehended the government employee at his home and confiscated the drug.

“I bought the drug because I heard that it is effective for the treatment of a chronic disease that my family has been suffering from for 10 years,” the suspect said in the investigation.

He added that he had no intention to sell or distribute the drug.

The prosecution said DMT can be classified as a new type of narcotic since it is not used as an official medicine in the country. Smuggling cases for the drug are rare.

The agency is planning to expand and review the investigation on the suspect. 

By Im Woo-jung, Intern reporter
(iwj@heraldcorp.com)