About 180 tons of oil without legal documents seized

Violated ship and goods (in the right) are temporarily seized at the wharf anchorage area of Fleet 1 in Ha Long (Quang Ninh province). Photo: T.Bình

On November 21, talking to a reporter from Customs News, the leader of Fleet 1 said that, continuing to follow the direction of the General Department of Vietnam Customs and the leader of the Anti-Smuggling and Investigation Department on strengthening the fight against smuggled petrol and coal, on the afternoon of November 18, in the waters of the Gulf of Tonkin under Vietnam's sovereignty, the high-speed patrol boat HQ11-91-66 of Fleet 1 discovered ship number QN-3268 sailing alongside PVT-HN ship (IMO number 9237395) showing signs of illegally transferring goods.

When the patrol boat approached to request an inspection, the QN-3268 and the PVT-HN ship removed the pipes and each ship traveled in a different direction. However, the HQ11-91-66 boat only controlled the petroleum transport vessel with registration number QN-3268.

Through initial verification, it showed that the ship QN-3268 is a specialized ship for transporting petroleum. In front of the driver's cabin, there were eight cargo holds; in three cargo holds, there was a black liquid, suspected to be FO oil.

According to the captain's declaration, in the cargo hold of the QN-3268 ship, there were about 170-180 tons of FO oil mixed with water. Meanwhile, the PVT-HN ship was a bulk carrier, specializing in international routes from Kaohsiung, Taiwan (China) to Vietnam.

At the time of inspection, the captain and crew of QN-3268 ship could not provide documents proving the origin of FO oil that was being transported on board QN-3268, so the working group made a record, sealed the cargo hold, requested the captain to bring the ship to the safe anchorage area (the wharf anchorage area of Fleet 1) for verification and clarification.

The case is being verified by the Northern Customs Marine Enforcement Fleet for strict handling in accordance with the law.

Regarding violations of petroleum in the management area, on September 30, 2022, Fleet 1 discovered the case of illegal transferring petroleum at Hai Phong seaport. The total amount of infringing goods is more than 200,000 liters of DO and FO oil, with an estimated value of more than VND3 billion.

The tricks of the subjects are to take advantage of the form of temporary import and re-export to illegally transfer goods for domestic consumption.