North Korean authorities are conducting an investigation after discovering a huge cache of illegal narcotics in a vehicle entering the China-North Korea border region from the North Korean interior.
A source in Yanggang Province told Daily NK on Friday that inspection personnel at a checkpoint in Pungso County busted a vehicle carrying a large amount of methamphetamine from Hamgung, South Hamgyong Province, in late February.
According to the source, the car was carrying three five-kilogram boxes of meth. On the street, methamphetamine goes for RMB 200 (USD 31.62) a gram. Based on that alone, the cache would have been worth millions of yuan.
The car in question was a privately operated bus carrying cargo between Hamhung and Hyesan. The bus had passed through several vehicular and quarantine checkpoints before inspectors nabbed it with just four checkpoints left to go.
Private buses have been suffering from plummeting earnings since North Korean authorities began restricting public movement in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Accordingly, the bus in question might have shouldered the risk of transporting the drugs, despite the authorities regarding such activity as “anti-socialist and non-socialist behavior.”
The case may prompt authorities to strengthen controls on private buses, depending on the results of their investigation into the incident.
The Pungso County branch of the Ministry of State Security has detained the driver and conductor of the bus for questioning.
However, the source said the investigation is running into trouble as both the drugs’ sender and ultimate destination remain unknown.
The source reported that the people directly involved with the drugs have disappeared. He said the sender provided a fake name with an unconfirmed phone number, leaving only the innocent conductor in the proverbial hot seat.
The source added that with North Korea’s legal system launching tougher investigations on drug dealing, dealers are employing increasingly elaborate methods to do business.
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