Police arrest foreigners in record bust of ketamine and ecstasy

Police arrested a German and a Polish national in a drug bust that nabbed 52 kilograms of ketamine and approximately 30 kilograms of ecstasy, marking the largest seizure of these substances by police to date.

Ketamine seized from a foreign drug syndicate member by Gwangjin Police Precinct in eastern Seoul [JOONGANG ILBO]

Police in Gwangjin District, eastern Seoul, arrested two European men on charges of attempting to smuggle and distribute narcotics in Korea.

Police said on Thursday that it arrested a Polish and a German national on charges of violating the Narcotics Control Act.

Officers also confiscated 52 kilograms (114 pounds) of ketamine and approximately 30 kilograms of ecstasy, marking the largest seizure of these substances by police to date.

The Polish national entered Korea on March 30, and the German followed on April 14.

Police said the Polish national, acting on orders from higher-ups in a drug syndicate based in Germany, received a parcel containing the narcotics and repackaged them at a guesthouse in Ulsan.

The drugs had been hidden inside ornamental ceramic objects with a thickness of about 5 centimeters (1.9 inches) and shipped via international courier, arriving in Incheon on April 8.

Ceramic pieces seized from a foreign drug syndicate member by Gwangjin Police Precinct in eastern Seoul [JOONGANG ILBO]

The German national received a portion of the narcotics from the Polish national and distributed samples using the “drop method,” a trafficking tactic where drugs are hidden in prearranged public locations for buyers to retrieve.

Police tracked the Polish national using closed-circuit TV and other methods after receiving intelligence that he was handing out samples in areas such as Seongnam, Gyeonggi, and Pohang, North Gyeongsang.

Police arrested the German national on April 25 and the Polish national on April 30, securing the drugs before they entered circulation.

The seized substances are commonly known as “club drugs.”

Both ketamine and ecstasy induce hallucinations and have no color or odor, making them easy to slip into drinks or conceal in powdered or liquid forms.

These characteristics have made them tools of choice in sexual assault cases.

Police said the quantity seized surpasses the total they recovered last year, when they confiscated 29 kilograms of ketamine and 6 kilograms of ecstasy.

The street value of the latest seizure is estimated at around 12 billion won ($8.5 million).

Police sent the German national to prosecutors on May 2, 18 days after his arrival. They will refer the Polish national to prosecution on Friday.

“If these drugs had been distributed, they could have been used to commit serious crimes such as date rape,” said Park Jae-young, head of the Gwangjin Police Precinct. “This investigation succeeded in preemptively removing that risk. We will continue to focus on and expand efforts to crack down on drug-related crimes.”

Translated from the JoongAng Ilbo using generative AI and edited by Korea JoongAng Daily staff. BY KIM SEONG-JIN [paik.jihwan@joongang.co.kr]