523 drug offenders busted in March crackdown

Seoul's Gangnam club Burning Sun owner Lee Moon-ho arrives at Seoul Central District Court on Mar. 19 for a warrant hearing on charges of using and distributing narcotic drugs. Yonhap

Police said Monday that they have arrested over 500 people, for using or trafficking narcotics, in their latest crackdown on drug crimes.

On Feb. 25, police declared a total war against drug crime in the wake of a nation-rocking drug and sex scandal at Burning Sun, a nightclub in southern Seoul.

Police busted a total of 523 people for using or distributing drugs over the past one month, with 216 of them detained. The figures were up 30 percent and 65 percent from a year ago, respectively.

Chinese employee Anna at Gangnam club Burning Sun in Seoul arrives at Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency in Dongdaemun-gu, Mar. 19, for a questioning on charges of distributing narcotic drugs. Yonhap

By type of drug, psychotomimetic agents, like gamma hydroxybutyric acid (GHB), were most common, 421 cases, or 82 percent of the total, trailed by cannabis, with 69, or 14 percent, and other drugs, including cocaine, with 21, or 4 percent.

Most of those arrested were suspected drug users, with 391 cases, or 76.5 percent, followed by drug distributors with 115, or 22.5 percent, and drug manufacturers and smugglers with five cases, or 1 percent. (Yonhap)

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