The amount of narcotics seized at border checkpoints posted a new high last year.

The Korea Customs Service said Wednesday that a total of three-thousand-318 kilograms of narcotics were confiscated at border checkpoints in the one-thousand-256 cases it handled in 2025.

Records were set both for the number of cases and the amount of drugs seized. 

The number of cases jumped 46 percent on-year, while the amount of narcotics surged a whopping 321 percent.

Half of the cases involved smuggling via travelers, 24 percent by express package and 25 percent by international mail. 

The number of drug smuggling cases involving air travelers increased 215 percent on-year to 624, and compared with 2024 the authorities confiscated double the amount of drugs from air travelers.

This marks the first time smuggling via travelers outpaced smuggling via express package or international mail.