Fake luxury goods are on display at Busan Main Customs in Busan on Feb. 5, 2020. (Yonhap)
BUSAN, Feb. 7 (Korea Bizwire) — How are confiscated illegal imports intercepted by customs handled?
The Busan Main Customs currently has in its inventory fake luxury goods worth 12 billion won (US$10 million) and Korean cigarettes worth 400 million won, seized from recently arrested importers, at its new port designated block.
The goods will be subject to disposal if they are classified as confiscated goods to be disposed of in a related trial.
Under the Customs Act and the Criminal Procedure Code, the customs office is required to report the results to the prosecution after undergoing procedures such as the incineration of confiscated items under the direction of the prosecutor.
According to the disposal method, watches are usually smashed, while branding and labels on bags or clothes are removed and the items donated if possible.
If such methods are not possible, the items are processed at incinerators or landfills that have been approved by the Ministry of Environment.
Meanwhile, drugs such as cocaine are more strictly controlled. The handover and incineration process take place with tight control over access to outsiders.
First of all, drugs are kept with other confiscated materials at the prosecutors’ office until incineration.
Afterwards, officials from four organizations, including the Busan District Prosecutor’s Office, gather inside the building on a certain day to sign the handover certificate and move to the incinerator.
Photographs are then taken from the beginning to completion of incineration, and when all work is done, each of the observers returns to their own organizations to prepare a report.
“It takes considerable manpower and funding to deal with the confiscated items and criminal confiscations,” a customs official said.
Lina Jang (linajang@koreabizwire.com)
