Economic police in Mong Cai city in Quang Ninh province discover an inventory of smuggled and illegally transported goods. (Photo: VNA)Hanoi (VNA) - More than 16,600cases of smuggling and trade fraud have been uncovered in 2018, up 10 percent fromthe previous year, the General Department of Vietnam Customs reported.
These statistics were released at a meeting heldby the department on December 27 to summarise the results of the fight againstsmuggling, trade fraud and illegal transportation of goods across the border in2018.
“The smuggled goods were estimated to be worthmore than 1.7 trillion VND (73.7 million USD), an increase of 116 percentyear-on-year. Almost 351 billion VND (15.2 million USD) was contributed to theState budget during this period through seizure of smuggled goods,” said NguyenKhanh Quang, Deputy Director of the Anti-smuggling Department under the GeneralDepartment of Vietnam Customs.
Particularly for drug smuggling, the entirecustoms sector has detected 216 cases, an increase of 114 percent compared tothe same period in 2017. They seized more than 54 kilos of heroin powder and444 bricks of heroin, more than 128 kilos of synthetic drugs, 364,000 tabletsand 185 bags of synthetic drugs, some 176 kilos of “ice” meth (crystallinemethamphetamine), more than 104.8 kilos of cocaine, 2,500 kilos of alkaloidcathinone in khat (Catha edulis) leaves.
Quang said the smuggling of fake goods wasgetting more difficult to control as smugglers were using advanced techniques.The number of cases increased slightly compared to last year but the value ofthe smuggled goods increased sharply.
“The main areas of smuggling include all landborder gates, seaports, airports and international post offices. The mostcommon illegally trafficked products are drugs, weapons, documents and wild animals,as well as timber, gold, foreign liquor and oil, along with minerals,cigarettes, automobiles and machinery, in addition to refrigerators, food andmany other types of goods,” Quang said.
Besides the achievements in the control,prevention and combat of smuggling and trade fraud, the customs sector wasstill facing many difficulties.
The current law only allows the customsauthorities to launch criminal proceedings for three types of crimes,“smuggling”, “illegally transporting goods and money currency over the border”and “producing and trading banned goods”.
“However, there are many types of crimesoccurring within the management framework of the customs sector such as illegaltransportation of weapons and drugs across the border, tax evasion, moneylaundering and infringement of intellectual property rights. When detectingthese cases, the customs authorities must transfer them to the investigatingagencies, which took a lot of time on administrative procedures, failing toensure promptness in detection and investigation,” Quang said.
During the investigation process, the seizure,preservation and use of material evidence are very important but the currentlaw does not allow the customs authorities to build temporary storage forstoring material evidence. Therefore, when seizing the evidence, the customsagencies must send it to the police agency, causing certain inconveniences andslowing down the investigation progress.
In an effort to fight this crime, authoritiesare reinforcing patrolling teams and inspection in key areas such as borderlines, Quang said, adding that they had also strengthened the investigation andassessment capacities in hotspots of smuggling and trade fraud and wereimposing strict penalties on smugglers.
Quang added that customs agencies had increasedthe use of high-tech equipment to efficiently and timely support the trackingand identification of smuggling activities on a larger scale.-VNA
These statistics were released at a meeting heldby the department on December 27 to summarise the results of the fight againstsmuggling, trade fraud and illegal transportation of goods across the border in2018.
“The smuggled goods were estimated to be worthmore than 1.7 trillion VND (73.7 million USD), an increase of 116 percentyear-on-year. Almost 351 billion VND (15.2 million USD) was contributed to theState budget during this period through seizure of smuggled goods,” said NguyenKhanh Quang, Deputy Director of the Anti-smuggling Department under the GeneralDepartment of Vietnam Customs.
Particularly for drug smuggling, the entirecustoms sector has detected 216 cases, an increase of 114 percent compared tothe same period in 2017. They seized more than 54 kilos of heroin powder and444 bricks of heroin, more than 128 kilos of synthetic drugs, 364,000 tabletsand 185 bags of synthetic drugs, some 176 kilos of “ice” meth (crystallinemethamphetamine), more than 104.8 kilos of cocaine, 2,500 kilos of alkaloidcathinone in khat (Catha edulis) leaves.
Quang said the smuggling of fake goods wasgetting more difficult to control as smugglers were using advanced techniques.The number of cases increased slightly compared to last year but the value ofthe smuggled goods increased sharply.
“The main areas of smuggling include all landborder gates, seaports, airports and international post offices. The mostcommon illegally trafficked products are drugs, weapons, documents and wild animals,as well as timber, gold, foreign liquor and oil, along with minerals,cigarettes, automobiles and machinery, in addition to refrigerators, food andmany other types of goods,” Quang said.
Besides the achievements in the control,prevention and combat of smuggling and trade fraud, the customs sector wasstill facing many difficulties.
The current law only allows the customsauthorities to launch criminal proceedings for three types of crimes,“smuggling”, “illegally transporting goods and money currency over the border”and “producing and trading banned goods”.
“However, there are many types of crimesoccurring within the management framework of the customs sector such as illegaltransportation of weapons and drugs across the border, tax evasion, moneylaundering and infringement of intellectual property rights. When detectingthese cases, the customs authorities must transfer them to the investigatingagencies, which took a lot of time on administrative procedures, failing toensure promptness in detection and investigation,” Quang said.
During the investigation process, the seizure,preservation and use of material evidence are very important but the currentlaw does not allow the customs authorities to build temporary storage forstoring material evidence. Therefore, when seizing the evidence, the customsagencies must send it to the police agency, causing certain inconveniences andslowing down the investigation progress.
In an effort to fight this crime, authoritiesare reinforcing patrolling teams and inspection in key areas such as borderlines, Quang said, adding that they had also strengthened the investigation andassessment capacities in hotspots of smuggling and trade fraud and wereimposing strict penalties on smugglers.
Quang added that customs agencies had increasedthe use of high-tech equipment to efficiently and timely support the trackingand identification of smuggling activities on a larger scale.-VNA
VNA
