South Korea’s customs agency said Wednesday that it has clamped down on illegal foreign currency dealings worth 2.5 trillion won ($2.2 billion) so far this year.

During the January-August period, the Korea Customs Service said in a report, it detected 1,145 cases of illegal foreign currency dealings that included money laundering and attempts to sneak wealth out of the country.

The number of cases detected declined slightly from the 1,150 during the same period last year, but the amount of money involved increased by 6 billion won, according to the report.

Violations of the nation’s foreign currency transaction laws totaled 1,092 cases involving 2.16 trillion won, the report showed.

Twelve cases of sneaking wealth out of the country were detected, involving 191.5 billion won. Money laundering of a total of 80.9 billion won accounted for the remaining 41 cases detected, the report showed.

Hong Kong and Japan were major destinations for the illegal export of wealth, with 93 billion won and 88.3 billion respectively detected in the process of being illegally sent to the regions. 

(Yonhap News)