At around 2:10 p.m. on February 2, a man with his face covered by a hat and mask enters a multi-family house in Gwonseon-gu, Suwon City, Gyeonggi.

Opening the unlocked door of the building, he walks around and cautiously opens the communication terminal box next to the mailbox, hides a small envelope containing something, and calls somewhere.

What this man hid was meth.



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▲ Drug suppliers and buyers entering and leaving multi-family housing in Gwonseon-gu, Suwon


Drug offenders who distributed, bought, and dosed drugs in multi-family residential areas using the so-called "throwing scheme" (a method of picking things up by placing them in a specific place) have been arrested in heaps.

They mainly used multi-family communication terminals, mailboxes, and under stair railings without CCTV and free access to the front door, including a significant number of Chinese nationals arrested.

The Suwon West Police Station announced today (31th) that it has arrested 31 people, including Mr. A (29) who recently distributed drugs and his girlfriend B (5), who took drugs, arrested five people, and confiscated 1.284 grams of meth, which is a dose of more than 5,9 people.

It was investigated that Mr. A received 2 grams of meth from local suppliers five times through a Chinese chat app (WeChat) over a period of two months from February, and then distributed it by delivering it to a specific place such as a residential area.



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▲ Drugs confiscated from Mr. A


Their crime was caught after a resident reported suspiciously seeing outsiders come in and rummage through the communication terminal box several times.

After receiving a citizen's tip, the police formed a team of 27 veteran drug case detectives and arrested Mr. A at his residence in Siheung on 2 March after a two-month investigation.

Since then, buyers in Seoul, Busan, Gyeongnam, and other parts of the country have been arrested one after another.

Seventeen of the drug offenders arrested were Chinese, including an active-duty soldier who bought drugs while on vacation.

A police official said, "We immediately formed a task force to conduct an intensive investigation as we believe that the living spaces of ordinary citizens may be exposed to the dangers of drugs," and "If you find suspicious items in mailboxes, stairs, etc. in residential areas, please report them immediately."

(Photo = Courtesy of Suwon West Police Station, Yonhap News)