Incheon Airport Customs arrested a 68-year-old man, identified only as A, on suspicion of drug smuggling and sent him in custody to the Incheon District Prosecutors’ Office in September, the agency said on 30 October.[1] Customs accused him of receiving an international mail package from the United States in August that contained a cereal bag mixed with 226 grams of cannabis, and of trying to distribute it in the country.[2][3] The cannabis was sealed in a plastic bag with cereal and hidden among other foods in the parcel, which he tried to bring into the country in late August.[4] Instead of seizing the parcel, investigators attached a GPS tracker and let the delivery go ahead.[4] The parcel passed through what customs called multi-stage quick splitting: a first collector handed it to other couriers several times, starting from a quiet alley in Gangbuk-gu, Seoul.[1]
Customs identified A and his home by analysing footage from hundreds of CCTV cameras.[1] The arrest took place near his home in Gangbuk-gu on 4 September.[5] At the home they seized 3.83 grams of methamphetamine, drug paraphernalia and a note about past smuggling.[4] A told investigators he had only been delivering the parcel on the instructions of an upstream supplier, but customs concluded from the CCTV footage and the seized items that he had conspired with that supplier in advance.[1] Customs said it would continue investigating accomplices.[2][3]
Customs accused A of violating the Narcotics Control Act for attempting to smuggle and distribute the cannabis.[3]