Since September, residents on South Korea's Jeju island have been spotting small packs of what appear to be bags of Chinese tea washed ashore. Upon closer inspection, however, they were found to contain ketamine.
Some 28kg (62 lbs) of the drug, wrapped in foil and labelled with the Chinese character for tea, have been found on at least eight occasions, police say.
Ketamine is used as an anaesthetic in medical procedures, but its recreational use is illegal in South Korea. It can cause severe physical and mental damage, including to the heart and lungs, when misused.
The Jeju Coast Guard has formed a team to trace possible sea and land routes through which the drugs may have entered the country.
Authorities have warned residents not to touch or open any suspicious objects found along the shore, asking them to report such discoveries to police.
On 15 October, a beach cleaner found 20kg of these tea bag drugs - the largest haul in the last two months - along the coast of Seogwipo in southern Jeju.
Earlier this week, a team of more than 800 soldiers, police officers and civilian volunteers was deployed to comb the beaches in Jeju City, along the holiday island's northern coast, Korea JoongAng Daily reported.
Investigators are focusing on the possibility that the drugs drifted to Jeju via ocean currents, according to the national daily. Similar discoveries of tea bag drugs have been made in Pohang, another city in South Korea, and Tsushima island in Japan.
Jeju residents have shown concern over the presence of illicit drugs on their coastlines. Kim, a local resident, expressed her fears for children's safety, highlighting the community's anxiety regarding these dangerous findings.
Experts suggest that a larger syndicate may be behind the production and distribution of these ketamine packets, pointing to sophisticated smuggling techniques such as the use of a sea bump method to transport the drugs.
