Crypto-powered Drug Trafficking Spiralling Nationwide in South Korea – Prosecutors
South Korean prosecutors have revealed that crypto-powered drug trafficking is on the rise nationwide.
The Supreme Prosecutor’s Office’s Narcotics and Organized Crime Department released its latest Drug Crime White Paper on June 26, Seoul Kyungjae and Chungcheong Today reported.
According to this document, police arrested 27,611 people for drug-related offenses in the past 12 months, a whopping 50.1% increase from 2022.
The paper’s authors said that the “main factor” driving the rise was a “change in the patterns” of drug trafficking.
The authors said that in the past, drugs were sold in person. But traffickers now prefer “non-face-to-face transactions,” and are using “anonymity-protecting solutions” such as “cryptocurrency and secure chat apps.”
The vast bulk of these crimes are now conducted via Telegram, prosecution officials explained. And in most cases, dealers ask for payment in tokens such as Bitcoin (BTC).
The figures represent an increase of nearly 7 times compared to 2019 statistics.
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