Officials from the Narcotics and Organized Crimes Division investigate drugs illegally manufactured by three foreign nationals at Southern Gyeonggi Police Agency on April 4. Newsis

More than 300 illegal immigrants have been caught for drug-related charges so far this year, police data showed Tuesday, amid a sharp rise in the number of undocumented foreign drug offenders.

A total of 549 foreigners were apprehended for drug charges from Jan. to May and 317 of them, or 57.8 percent, were illegal immigrants, according to the National Police Agency data submitted to Rep. Kim Mi-ae of the ruling People Power Party.

The number of undocumented foreign drug offenders has been on a sharp rise from 172 in 2018 to 353 in 2019; 697 in 2020; 811 in 2021; 945 in 2022 and 1,083 last year, representing a 6.3-fold increase over the past five years.

Thais took up 71.5 percent of 4,378 illegal immigrants caught for drug charges from 2018 through May this year, followed by Vietnamese at 16.4 percent, or 718 people, and Chinese at 4.6 percent, or 203 people, according to the data. (Yonhap)