A new synthetic drug has been found in a parcel that arrived in Korea via international mail from France, Korean media reported.
The Central Customs Laboratory and Scientific Service under the Korea Customs Service announced on Wednesday that it had identified the drug, which had not been previously reported at home or abroad, and temporarily recognised it as a narcotic.
The two new drugs are analogues of the powerful hallucinogen mescaline and were found in an unidentified powder imported from France by international mail. Mescaline is a hallucinogenic alkaloid extracted from the peyote cactus and is classified as a psychotropic drug in Korea.
The Central Customs Laboratory and Scientific Service analysed the chemical structure of the powder and found that the substance was a new synthetic drug. The laboratory requested the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety to provisionally recognise the substance, which could pose a risk to public health, as a narcotic drug.
Following an inspection, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety concluded that the substance was likely to be distributed as a drug substitute, so it was temporarily registered as a narcotic drug.
Park Jae-seon, head of the Central Customs Laboratory and Scientific Service, said:
“To preemptively block the inflow of new forms of narcotics into the country, we will strengthen co-operation with related domestic and international organisations while further strengthening the analysis capabilities of our staff for new narcotics.”
