As the number of cases of SNS being used for trafficking stimulants and cannabis increases, the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare will establish a "Cyber Investigation Division" in the Narcotics Control Department next month to strengthen control such as monitoring of online advertisements.
According to a summary by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, the number of people arrested in adult drug cases was 1,4408, which has been almost flat in recent years, but the number of people arrested for cannabis has been increasing for eight consecutive years, mainly under the age of 30, and the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare believes that the background is that it is easy for the younger generation to obtain illegal drugs through the Internet such as SNS.
Of the cases arrested by drug enforcement agencies nationwide last year, the percentage of cases related to the Internet accounted for about 8% of the total, nearly double the number three years ago.
In response to this situation, the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare will newly establish the "Cyber Investigation Division" in the Narcotics Control Department of the Kanto Shinetsu Welfare Bureau next month to strengthen the crackdown on trafficking cases that abuse the Internet, according to interviews with people involved.
The highly confidential communication app obtained by NHK = "Telegram" screen records the situation of illegal drug sales between people in their 30s, and "Could you try it at first and make it a little cheaper?" There were still scenes of price negotiations such as "I'm sorry for being persistent, have you shipped it yet?" and urging the trafficker to hurry up home delivery.
The Cyber Investigation Division, which will be established at the Kanto Shinetsu Welfare Bureau, will work with the Narcotics Control Bureau nationwide to monitor and detect online advertisements for drug trafficking using SNS such as Twitter and Telegram.
The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare's Surveillance and Guidance and Narcotics Control Division says, "In order to protect the safety of the public from increasingly sophisticated Internet crimes, we would like to enhance the expertise of the investigation side and deal with it appropriately."