The Busan Police Agency Drug Crime Investigation Unit told Newsis that the gang had smuggled and distributed drugs to cryptocurrency-paying customers for about $1.5 million.

"Gang Leader" in the Philippines is Arrested by South Korean Police

According to the officers, they are presently attempting to "repatriate" the accused leader of the group, who seems to be residing in the Philippines.

The group, according to the police, brought synthetic marijuana and methamphetamine, sometimes known as crystal meth, into the nation from the Philippines.

Additionally, police think the group supplied cocaine to customers in the Philippines.

Reporters were informed by a spokesman that the gang had hidden drug packs inside women's sanitary goods by using drug traffickers.

The smugglers then attempted to hide these sanitary goods in their pants in order to avoid being discovered at airports.

The spokesman continued that the gang contacted drug users via 11 different Telegram channels, with the customers paying in crypto.

Gang Allegedly Used Crypto, Telegram, and Dead-dropped Drug Deliveries

As has previously been the case, the gang arranged to “dead-drop” narcotics in residential areas of the buyers’ choosing in South Korea.

Officers said the group typically chose to hide drugs in “electric terminal boxes and fire hydrants” in residential areas

Police Arrest Suspected Dealers, Smugglers, and Drug Users

Dealers would then allegedly send the buyers photographs and GPS location data to help them find the hidden drugs.

Police said the group began its operations in August last year, and added that some of the arrestees detained in both South Korea and the Philippines were charged with drug use.

Officers in Busan also arrested four suspected smugglers and 12 suspected dealers. Their counterparts in the Philippines arrested five suspected smugglers and 27 suspected dealers.

The spokesperson said that officers also confiscated 4.8kg of drugs, including 1.2kg of methamphetamine, as well as almost $41,000 worth of fiat

(Busan Police Agency)

CCTV Footage Helped Police

Officers said they had tracked the gang for several weeks by “analyzing Telegram messages” and footage from over 1,500 CCTV units.

The Busan force added that it had worked with law enforcement agencies in the Philippines on the case, as well as Interpol and the South Korean National Intelligence Service.

Seo Sang-tae, the head of the Busan Police Drug Crime Investigation Unit, said his unit would continue to “investigate internet drug transactions.”

It was "conducting an intensive crackdown on drug crimes," the Busan Police Agency said.

Yoon Suk-yeol, the president of South Korea, announced a "all-out war" on drug trafficking driven by cryptocurrency last year.

Yoon declared that "mobilising all government capabilities in the fight against drugs" was "need."

In the last two years, a significant number of adolescents who traded drugs were imprisoned for utilising cryptocurrency to purchase and sell drugs.