‘War on drugs and hidden cameras’▶ Click here for a larger view
“What? What happened?”
At 10:15 pm on the 7th, an alley of entertainment establishments between Gangnam Station and Sinnonhyeon Station in Seoul.
When several people, including police and firefighters, entered the club at once, the citizens who were enjoying the ‘fire’ in the vicinity immediately surrounded the club entrance and shouted.
Some people wondered, “I was going to come here later, what’s going on?”, while others expressed curiosity by saying, “Is it a crime or maybe a drug?”
The people who stormed into the club are a joint drug enforcement team consisting of 51 people including employees of the Seocho Police Station, Seocho Fire Station, Seocho-gu Office, and Seoul City Hall. They cracked down on four large clubs in the area that day.
Before the crackdown began, Kim Han-gon, head of the Seocho Police Station’s Criminal Division, divided the crackdown team into four groups in an empty lot near Exit 10 of Gangnam Station and ordered the operation in each group.
Manager Kim said, “As drug-related reports from clubs have been frequently received over the past three months, an active inspection is necessary.”
The Seocho Police Station has recently secured a number of reports, such as the distribution of drugs through the so-called ‘throwing method’ in clubs and that club sales staff are also involved in this. ‘Throwing’ is a non-face-to-face transaction method in which the drug is left in a specific place in advance and the buyer finds it.
The police also checked the rubbish discharged from the club and checked the actual situation of drug administration, and began cracking down on this.
Joint crackdown on clubs in Seochoseo and Gangnam Station▶ Click here for a larger view
As the enforcement team entered the club one following another, bodyguards with strong physique standing guarding the entrance naturally cleared the way. It was a different atmosphere from the usual overbearing attitude. There was even a bodyguard who avoided his gaze as if he had resigned.
When the crackdown began, the inside became chaotic for a moment. Some guests turned around and left the club as if they were running away.
In the crackdown on that day, which took place around 2:30 following midnight, no illegal activities such as drug distribution or administration were discovered.
In addition to drug crimes that day, the enforcement team also inspected illegal camera installations, violations of the Food Sanitation Act, and safety facility management status.
Seocho Police Station’s female youth and staff checked every nook and cranny of the club’s women’s restroom with camera detectors and attached a promotional sticker to prohibit illegal filming. Fortunately, no illegal cameras were found.
Firefighters checked fire hydrants and requested corrections to some clubs that blocked emergency exits with items.
As the number of drug-related crime reports is increasing, the Seocho Police Station plans to continue checking the clubs in the future.
“It is no exaggeration to say that drugs have recently penetrated deep into our homes,” said Kim Han-gon, a manager.
Police inspecting whether drugs are stored in a locker at a club in Seocho-gu, Seoul▶ Click here for a larger view
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