Dealing with Year-end Smuggling

On October 24, 2012, the Office of the Government sent a written request to competent agencies to work out effective plans to fight against smuggling and trade fraud in the last months of the lunar year and the New Year, and to focus on firecrackers, explosives, petroleum, alcohol, tobacco, poultry, food, phones, tablets and other goods at land, airway and waterway border gates.

 

Hoang Khanh Hoa, Deputy Director of Lang Son Customs Department, said that smuggling and trafficking of drugs, firecrackers, weaponry, counterfeit goods, prohibited goods, and depraved cultural products in Lang Son has been rising in both amount and sophistication. Major hotspots are trails near Coc Nam, Tan Thanh and Chi Ma border gates like Kho Da Road, Goc Buoi, Goc Nhan in Tan My and Van Lang districts, Hang Doi area and Trail 386. Smugglers tend to intensify activities at sensitive hours like midnight, twilight and shift change. They divide smuggled items to carry on their backs along trails or hide them on import-export trucks.

 

Although customs forces actively inspect around the clock in hot zones, smuggling is still worsening. Tran Van Hung, head of Coc Nam Customs Division, said that since mid-July 2012, China has built blocking walls on trails, but porters are still carrying contraband goods into Vietnam. They also opened new trails in China to carry contraband to border posts and go down trails in Vietnam. When anti-smuggling forces deploy preventive attacks, they resist fiercely and run away with illegal imports. They are very dangerous and violent. The main smuggled goods are drugs, fireworks, shoes, socks, fabrics, clothing, electric and electronic appliances, baked goods, alcohol, beverages, tobacco, weapons, counterfeit goods, prohibited goods and depraved cultural products.

 

Similar situations also occur in other border provinces like Quang Ninh, Lang Son, Lao Cai, Ha Tinh, Quang Tri, Dong Thap and An Giang, according to the Anti-smuggling Inspection Department under the General Department of Customs.

 

Customs authorities said after investigating 4,906 cases in the last two months, representing a year on year rise of 28.3 per cent, and the value of captured contraband was estimated at VND113.745 billion. Trafficked items are mainly wines, cigarettes, drugs, firecrackers, and counterfeit money. Notably, the trafficking of high-tax imports like drugs, precious timbers, petroleum and foreign currencies tends to rise sharply at the end of the year.

 

The Bureau of Anti-smuggling Investigation warned that smugglers deploy more sophisticated and complex methods to avoid inspection, including air routes and postal services. Customs officers report that smugglers now use high-end cars with falsified registration plates, even authority number plates, to bring in contraband with sophisticated camouflage. Therefore, it is very difficult to seize contraband, and it is even harder to find the real owners. Smuggling trucks frequently change number plates when they pass checkpoints to avoid attracting the attention of authorities. Drug traffickers even fight back against authorities with deadly weapons. Drugs and foreign currencies are usually sent by air or post. The General Department of Customs has directed the Bureau of Anti-Smuggling Investigation and customs authorities to intensify control on road and air routes from now until the end of the year.