Seoul: Interpol and police in the Republic of Korea have rounded up 29 drug offenders across Southeast Asia and confiscated drugs worth around US$1.04 billion as part of a joint international crackdown, Korean news agency Yonhap reported on Wednesday. Korean National Police Agency (NPA) said it has successfully carried out the joint drug crackdown with Interpol, codenamed "LIONFISH-MAYAG-?," in the Golden Triangle region spanning Thailand, Myanmar and Laos for 16 days from 22nd July to 7th August. The NPA has been carrying out such anti-drug projects in cooperation with Interpol since last year in order to beef up international cooperation as most drugs circulated in Korea are smuggled from overseas. Seven countries, including the United States, Cambodia and Australia, took part in the operation. "We could learn through this operation the means of how the drug suppliers smuggle synthetic drugs and raw materials," said Jurgen Stock, Secretary-General of Interpol, adding that cooperation with Interpol facili tated the real-time information swap between participating countries and raised the efficacy of the operation. Source: Emirates News Agency