'Illegal direct purchase of medical devices in Ali' caught a bunch of dentists.

A number of dentists who illegally brought in Chinese dental medical devices through Chinese e-commerce companies have been caught.

The Seoul Customs Service said it has detected 13 dentists who smuggled more than 10 million medical devices, including dental drills and oral anesthesia syringes, into the country and used them for patients.

They purchased dental medical devices from AliExpress from December 2022 to April this year, disguised themselves as self-medical treatment rather than medical use, and were exempt from import permits and tariffs, the investigation found.

When bringing medical devices into Korea, they must go through import permits and formal import customs procedures from the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety except for some, such as self-treatment.

Seoul Customs said they illegally imported it to reduce costs even though they were aware of this, and said they will strengthen customs control to prevent unlicensed medical devices from being brought into the country.