1,650 foreign criminal suspects caught in northern Gyeonggi in 2018: police data

The Gyeonggi Bukbu Provincial Police Agency

By Park Si-soo

Police caught 1,650 foreigners committing crimes in northern Gyeonggi Province last year, with concerns over the number nabbed for drug consumption.

The area is home to numerous factories and other industrial facilities that have workers from developing countries.

Gyeonggi Bukbu Provincial Police Agency, responsible for the area, revealed its crackdown data for 2018 on Thursday.

The figures showed 64 people were arrested while others faced criminal procedures without detention. Violence (426 cases) dominated, followed by intellectual crime (230), theft (139), drug violations (36) and sexual crime (23).

The total was slightly less compared with 2017 (1,777 cases).

The agency is concerned about drug violations, which were running at between one and five between 2010 and 2015. They spiked at 83 in 2016, but fell to 49 in 2017 and 36 last year. Officials say they will have to remain vigilant to prevent the figures from bouncing back.