The Munhwa Ilbo reports that incidences of individuals smuggling in drugs via delivery services are skyrocketing.
The drugs and organized crime team of Seoul Central Prosecutors Office said Wednesday it had arrested a 41-year-old transportation union chairman in Gimpo named Choe on charges of smuggling in from China via international mail some 10g (3.8 million won) of speed, which he consumed. He is believed to have worked with a taxi driver named Kim to smuggle the drugs in last October.
They also announced the arrest of a 32-year-old Korean-American musician named M for smuggling in pot in peanut butter jars. M, who majored in violin at Johns Hopkins and was looking for work after coming to Korea earlier this year, is suspected of mailing himself 9.25g of ganja from Texas via international post. They also picked up a couple for taking speed at their home in Nonhyeon-dong, Gangnam-gu.
Oh, yeah, and then there were the Spanish dancers appearing in a famous musical that were busted for smuggling in hash via international mail.
Seoul Central Prosecutors said they busted 35 individuals for drug offenses in January and February, an 83% increase from the 19 guys they busted during the same period last year. A prosecutorial official said that due to the economic turndown, the number of incidences of individuals using the mail to smuggle in small amounts of drugs was increasing. Authorities are strengthening their crackdown on the smuggling, he said.
{ 61 comments… read them below or add one }
I would recommend all the English teachers and other random foreigners thinking of smuggling themselves some drugs by postal channels take a look at Australia’s “Border Security” television program, which you can see on Oz’s Channel 7 or download from BitTorrent sites (I don’t know if it’s broadcast here in Korea). Border Security focuses on coast guards, immigration and customs officials — and their ability to protect Australia’s borders against agricultural imports and hopheads.
You will see that the post office has great x-ray machines and none of the “pot-in-peanut-butter” scams are going to work.
From what I can see, Chinese and Californians pose the most problems to Australia’s border guards.
This show has been adapted for American broadcast as “Homeland Security USA” on ABC. It’s pretty good.
Frankly, I’m curious about marijuana. It must be really good, to motivate such vigorous attempts to obtain it. But I’m not going to mail myself a box of weed because I know that doesn’t work.
The price quote of “10g (3.8 million won) of speed” is laughable when street prices are usually by “the point” (0.1g) and in negotiable terms ($2-20 depending on the laws of supply and demand)… I love how police take the highest price of the smallest unit and announce that as the “street value” when more than likely it was bought in bulk for a fraction of that…
…and nobody with half a brain smuggles drugs in peanut butter jars anymore. Coffee tins and pickle jars are much more effective.
Lol at Brendon covering his own ass at the last part… “I was around it but I never inhaled.” If you’re from a Western country and past the age of 30 and never tried pot, you’re either a loser or a born-and-raised conservative Christian…
Let’s see of I’ve got this straight…the perfectly named “BM” is saying that those of us who HAVEN”T smoked pot are the losers? Are you fucking kidding me?!
Bipolar Mindscrew, indeed!
DLB
I am either a loser or holy roller because I am an over-30 westerner who has never smoked pot?
Spoken like a true deadbeat junkie trying to justify their actions.
What other hare-brained shit do you have rattling around in that head of yours?
“The prosecution indicted a lead choreographer, without physical detention, suspected of smuggling in the drug. He is banned from leaving the country and the prosecution dropped indictment against three others, taking into consideration the fact that Hashish is not categorized as an illegal drug in Spain.”
That’s fresh.
@ #3 and #4:
I’m afraid he’s right. And you’re kinda backing him up.
Brendon, how are you getting Oz’s channel 7 in Australia, or have you been Down Under lately? I have seen Border Patrol here on the Australian satellite channel that is part of my cable mix. Good show.
I never seriously smoked pot (one puff each on two joints from somebody else doesn’t count, or at least I noticed no effects) and I am 35. I’ll take the loser label, because I wasn’t raised particularly religious. I do feel ready now to try some though, but I have heard that the stuff available these days is much stronger than what they used to have occurring naturally, and I wouldn’t want to pop my brain on the first try.
Still, as Brendon Carr says, if you mess with drugs in Asia, you must be prepared to wear the consequences.
Which is why I must disagree with the title for this post. Why try to discourage people from mailing themself drugs, when the consequences, if caught, cause us so much amusement?
Mindscrew — I’ve been around pot smokers since I was 11 or so, playing Dungeons & Dragons. Never tried it. I know my mother and aunts and uncles all smoked pot, and pretty sure about my sister. Just not me. Now I’m almost 40 and I do wonder what I’ve missed, since the weed prompts all manner of craziness. Plus I’ve heard it gets you laid.
I could see someone paying $2500 for pure dextrorotatory methamphetamine. You could easily cut that into an ounce and flip the grams for $75-$100. ( ._.)
Errr… make that $125-150
Brendon:
I didn’t see any English teachers mentioned among the busted.
Indeed, aside from the ambiguous “Korean-American M” who was busted, there is nothing to indicate ANY of the bustees are Native English Speakers, so perhaps you should save the brow-beating for ‘Marmot’s Hole en Espanol’…
Given racist K-media’s antagonistic attitude towards us, another pot smoking English teacher surely would have been the lede.
I wonder how many of the busted were Korean, or Korean American?
Drug tests for all F-4 visa holders!!!!
Abstainers Lacking in Social Skills?
Indeed! Not surprising at all. The alcohol-swilling, anti-marijuana crusaders have never let facts stand in the way of their truth.
http://www.rand.org/pubs/research_briefs2007/RAND_RB9265.pdf
“I wonder how many of the busted were Korean, or Korean American?”
They are generally the majority of cases, aren’t they?
Crap! I should have smoked that joint first. My brain doesn’t work too well without the weed.
http://www.rand.org/pubs/research_briefs/2007/RAND_RB9265.pdf
“kpmsprtd,”
Dude, Brendon and Red Sparrow and I were gonna point out that Rand study, but we, like, TOTALLY forgot!
DLB
No worries, bro. If you’re ever up in Rio Linda, stop by and we’ll burn one.
Funny you should mention that. The headline of the piece — which, frankly, is what grabbed my attention in the first place — was:
재미교포 음악인 버터 위장 대마 밀반입
뮤지컬 출연 외국무용수 우편 통해 밀수
Interesting, no?
i’ve been around potsmokers, too, but never tried it myself. I’m glad I never touched it.
Korea can’t possibly be the only nation in East Asia to pursue this wonderful prosectuion against pot.
Robert Koehler, I gave you a link while ago about Japanese sumo wrestlers and a pot smoking scandal. One of the sumo wrestlers was a Mongolian national.
I reproduce it here, as a contribution to this portion of the dear world that the good Lord has allowed to exist, day by day, whether or not they believe in Him or not.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/japan/2705540/Japans-sumo-wrestling-chief-quits-over-marijuana-scandal.html
Keywords: marijuana, sumo, Japan, Mongolian.
I think Lt. Okamoto got the idea of prosecuting pot smokers from Japan’s existant laws. Not unusual for him to copy Japan.
It’s still a good law. I’d imagine this hurts Canadian English teachers in Korea AND Japan.
A family friend spent seven years in Japan as a guest of the correctional system. He says it’s an experience to be avoided.
If it were up to me, marijuana would be legal. It’s stupid (amusing, sure, but also stupid) for the state to punish people based on the nature of the weed they smoke. Tobacco cigarettes are legal, and a big business too. What’s so bad about marijuana?
I wonder if you could frame someone in this manner.
What’s with the new Gravatar, Shak?
Sonagi, had people object to the last one in the other thread. Still, I cannot see the new one for some reason. Cache not cleared, perhaps.
Yes, please stop mailing yourself drugs. Mail them to me.
My Korean is quite poor, but that says, “Gyopo Musician hiding (Dae Ma.. aka weed?) in butter, musical stars who are foreign are smugglers”?
The lede (of course) is the foreigners who smuggle mere pot in.
Not the Koreans who smuggle much more dangerous speed.
K-media: spreading xenophobia to the masses.
So? When has that ever stopped them before? Ddalgi and Almond Tease were arrested and punished for making porn in a country where making porn is completely legal (ie. Canada). They were arrested for breaking KOREAN laws even though they were not even in Korea at the time.
Almond Tease should have been arrested for making bad porn.
Ddalgi and friends were OK, though.
Wonder what ever happened to Chrissy Li…
weed to musicians seem to be like
roids to atheletes.
I asked a good bud what the hell Rihanna was referring to, in her song, Disturbia.
He said it was referring to a druged experience.
I asked the same bud what the hell the song ‘Sex and Candy’ is referring to, when it talks of “Like double cherrie pie”. I never understood what the song was talking about.
Man, you gotta be stoned to write songs and lyrics like that.
If they were in Korea, Hyun Jinyoung could tell them about ‘lost youth’.
It’s shocking that you are so anti-drug wjk, as I routinely wonder what drug(s) you are on as I read the apparently random, unrelated collection of ‘thoughts’ that are your posts here.
it’s like e.e. commings:
”
weed to musicians seem to be like
roids to atheletes.
”
that kind of poetry sounds like its from an acid trip.
Almond Tease and Chrissy Li I know, but Ddalgi? How did I miss that one. Links, anyone?
I wonder if you could frame someone in this manner.
My thoughts exactly shakuhachi: Know a foreigner you don’t like in Korea? That bastard new guy from the states moving in on your Korean honey? Have a friend over-seas mail him or her a couple of grams of really bad weed.End of problem.
“Have a friend over-seas mail him or her a couple of grams of really bad weed.”
That would be the shipment that they miss, and the guy would just go and get your honey high.
Here you go…
How do you know foreigners wouldn’t do that to another foreigner? I know you think Koreans are an evil people, but not all Koreans are out to get you.
Cm….
Why did you assume that Hitest (post #30) was referring to a Korean setting up a Westerner? I assumed that it was foreigner setting up a fellow foreigner. Did I miss something?
Getting high off weed is an acquired experience right? The one time I tried it, couldn’t feel a damn thing. Was a huge letdown.
Getting high off weed is an acquired experience right? The one time I tried it, couldn’t feel a damn thing. Was a huge letdown.
That’s because you probably didn’t know what you were doing. That happened to me also when I first dragged on a joint in one of Amsterdam’s “brown cafes”.
The next time, I smartened up and first found myself a bored, unemployed, and slightly eccentric German chick with oodles of free time on her hands and who knew how to roll a proper joint. Took a road trip together to the Netherlands and had a great time.
Don’t be stupid. America is too uptight about this kind of stuff. Was down in Orlando last week, visited a cigar shop run by Cubans and found out the US Gov is planning to slap a 700% tax on cigars. Cigars! Just go to Amsterdam.
And now for our obligatory “Koreans on weed” schtick by comedian Dr Ken:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yi6fX2Qbvvo
It’s shocking that you are so anti-drug wjk, as I routinely wonder what drug(s) you are on as I read the apparently random, unrelated collection of ‘thoughts’ that are your posts here.
If wjk’s claims to be a MD resident are valid, then consider the vaguely frightening thought that he has easy access to medical marijuana and the power to scribble prescriptions for all manner of mind-altering drugs…
#19. Brendon although I have used the product since I was 18 for the past 10 years, I would rather my Doctor be high off of nicotine than marijuana if I were to ever have to go into surgery.
Perhaps Mr Carr could explain how he might prepare a defence for himself if he received a tainted package from an opponent.
Is it really so easy to put someone in the shit?
I hope not.
@40 I put a similar question to the good lawyer about a year ago on a similar thread, but don’t recall a response. I’m pretty curious about this “frame your enemy in Korea” scenario too–how can merely picking up a package addressed to one at the security shack in front of one’s building prove complicity in a drug smuggling? As Mr Carr’s made it clear many times before, defending “hopheads” isn’t in his job description, so certainly recommending a defense here wouldn’t be giving away any legal advice he’s hoping to sell.
As a matter of fact, a few years ago we helped a sob-story client avoid charges for possession of marijuana because she had not actually accepted the “mis-addressed” package with a can of “tea” in it. The tea turned out to be hashish. Honest, officer, she had no idea who would have mailed her such a thing! The police made the mistake of arresting her before she had accepted the package and opened the box — they had opened it first.
A few months later, after she had left Korea safely, I got a call from this woman and learned that she had returned to teach English, and wouldn’t you know it — the same wacky and improbable misunderstanding had happened again! Imagine her bad luck.
What we can take from this is that actual possession is going to be required to indict you for possession. The way around that, then, is not to possess the drugs. Don’t accept mysterious packages.
In my life here in Korea, in the military and as a civilian, everyone who has sent me a package from the States has notified me of the fact that a package is on its way. I’ve never gotten a mysterious box, and have to wonder about the people who do.
If the name on the package isn’t your name, don’t accept the package. Send it back to the post office.
If you don’t recognize the return address, don’t accept the package. Send it back to the post office.
But, you might be unlucky and take the unknown package home without looking at the labels. If you open a box up and find it full of drugs, take the box immediately to a police station and explain yourself. Give them the drugs.
When questioned by the police in connection with a mysterious package full of drugs, offer a urine and hair test. After all, you’re clean, aren’t you? That would be my defense were I in that kind of situation. Yours may necessarily be different from mine.
Always remember, Here is Korea. You can’t do drugs in Korea, and your “rights” aren’t the same as back in the US or Canada. Foreigners belong to a suspect class in the eyes of Koreans, and ought to conduct themselves accordingly. Do that, and you won’t need a defense.
i’m not on drugs. I never do drugs. I’m not a resident, yet. I start in July. Write your self class 1 schedule drugs?
You mean, you work this hard, and this long, to get busted by the US DEA, and possibly lose your medical license?
fuck that.
Mine comes from my own head.
Uh, I think it’s called a beautiful mind.
i’m not even remotely interested in Marijuana. take a drug so you’ll get drowsy?
fuck that.
I’ll be honest. I am interested in amphetamines.
Sounds like a wonder drug.
But, I’ll never write myself Adderall. Never took it, never will.
I have actually seen a resident who is doing Emergency Medicine getting a script getting filled by his private physician. I took a peek.
It said Adderall.
This douchebag was claiming he had ADHD or some other doctor made the diagnosis for him.
as the saying goes, we’ll all probably concentrate better with amphetamines.
Uh, I think it’s called a beautiful mind
Yup, you may quite possibly be the John Nash of the medical field, except for the part about making pivotal discoveries and winning a Nobel.
cm: Hey, I thought the same as Robert Neff. I assumed it was foreigner-on-foreigner framing, not Korean-on-foreigner framing. I do hope you’re not seeing anti-Korean hating wherever you look, cm, because I have seen precious little of it in this thread.
In fact, if you will allow me just a little exaggeration, this seems to be the thread that has pulled people from both sides of the Korean/외국인 divide together. Just look how happy the often churlish Netizen Kim is to recount his marijuana experiences.
LOL this is the best thread ever
wjk – “I’ll be honest. I am interested in amphetamines.
Sounds like a wonder drug.”
More “wisdom” from the good doctor…
Hamel, robert and Cm—I was in particular imagining a scenario where some foreign English teacher was upset by the new foreign English teacher, putting the moves on his Korean girlfriend, if that helps settle the debate
Brendon, thanks for the advice. I currently have a slip to have a registered letter/package delivered to me, in person, and have no idea who might have sent it and what it might be. Same advice then for registered letters/packages?
I have no idea, really. It seems appropriate to go look at whatever’s been sent to you, because visual inspection reveals a lot about what it might be (your copy of the Economist, a letter from Mom, a court summons, etc.).
Frankly I don’t live in a world where I’m constantly on edge about the possibility of some stranger mailing me incriminating materials. Usually I’ve ordered the incriminating materials.
Englishmonkey, that’s why I suggested having really bad weed sent
Damn how do you do the imbedded quotes :/
Hey, I have a suggestion. Just send your Korean Honey and your non-descript package to me and BAM! No more problems.
My Lord, you dorks have some weird-ass problems.
[quite] “Damn how do you do the imbedded quotes :/ ” [end quote]
Suggestion to Robert, Lord of the Manor: can those 컴맹 inept commenters among us have a link somewhere in your frame (so accessible from every page) that takes us to a page where how to do embedded quotes, bold, italics, links, etc is explained? A cheat sheet/Cliff Notes version would be great?
If you are Korean you are liable for violating Korean law everywhere in the world, regardless whether or not the offense in question is proscribed in the jurisdiction where it took place.
“as the saying goes, we’ll all probably concentrate better with amphetamines.”
Whose saying is that, exactly? Jesus? Sounds like something he’d say.
#53- Netizen Kim…I presume the problems you have with your ass are of the less-weird variety?
#54 hamel…don’t you wish you could delete your own posts ?
Hey Robert while you are at it how about a spell check, thesaurus, grammer check and a pair of virtual pliers so some of the posters can pull their virtual heads out of their virtual asses?
Have a swell weekend, you key board warriors!
You don’t have to be Korean for this to be true. Try going to Amsterdam, smoke up to your heart’s content, then come back to Korea and try arguing “but I didn’t do it in Korea and anyway, it’s legal in Amsterdam”. Bets they deport your ass within seconds?
Darth, is your avatar a certain science professor at a certain unnamed university in Seoul?
“pulled people from both sides of the Korean/외국인 divide together. Just look how happy the often churlish Netizen Kim is to recount his marijuana experiences.”
Uhh, Netizen Kim is a 외국인. He just doesn’t like the fact that he is!!
Or more probably a sane human being, instead of a, ah, dumb pothead?
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