By Park Si-soo
Staff Reporter
Korea, once perceived as a drug-free country, has emerged as an international stopover in the drug smuggling trade.
Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office announced Wednesday that it had arrested six drug traffickers including a 71-year veteran smuggler, Kim, and is searching for five other suspects.
The prosecution said they had attempted to export 6.74 kg of the drug philopon (methylamphetamine), produced in China, to Japan via Korea.
The amount detected has a street value of about 22.4 billion won ($ 24.4 million).
Kim has been arrested seven times so far on the same charges and has served a total of 22 years in prison.
Prosecutors said the arrested smuggled the drug through Incheon port by using self-employed traders visiting China since last October and forwarded it on to Osaka, Japan, through the southern port of Busan.
``The smugglers had exported the drug from China to Japan directly. But because inspections at harbors and airports in Japan got tighter, they changed the route to reduce risk'' said the prosecution. ``They used a loophole in Japanese customs, in which packages from Korea can easily pass inspection. The drug smuggled into Japan was then sold by the yakuza.''