By Kim Rahn
Staff Reporter

Police arrested or booked 2,965 people ― 621 and 2,344, respectively ― for drug use or trafficking during the first five months of this year, a 7.6 percent increase from last year, the National Police Agency said, Wednesday.

Of them, 345 were foreign nationals, a 95 percent rise from a year earlier. People from Thailand accounted for the largest portion at 233 or 67 percent, followed by 42 Russians, 14 Americans and 10 Chinese.

``Many of the Thai people sold or took drugs, such as yaba and methamphetamine, around industrial complexes where migrant employees work. They also grew hemp near the factories and smoked it,'' a police officer said.

Police said they are stepping up efforts to monitor drug deals over the Internet, as 276 people were found to have traded drugs online, up by 65 percent from 167 in 2008.

Pills containing amphetamines, a type of stimulant, have been sold online as ``medicine to lose weight,'' because the chemical decreases appetite.

``Staying overseas, those drug traffickers posted advertisements on adult-only Web sites and sent the drugs through an international air courier service after the buyers paid money into their bank accounts,'' the officer said.

Police detected several cases where entertainers and bar workers collected money to buy ecstasy tablets from Japan and took the drugs at parties at bars.

``We will strengthen cooperation with the National Intelligence Service and the Korea Customs Service to prevent drug deals,'' the officer said.

rahnita@koreatimes.co.kr