An Giang: Sugar disguised for smuggling

	Customs actively anti-smuggling at the end of 2016
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The smuggled sugar was seized by Customs officers of Vinh Xuong Customs Branch. Photo: D.N.

Liquefied smuggled sugar

"From the beginning of 2016 to date, pepertrators in sugar smuggling cases who were seized and prosecuted were only employees of the owners of smuggled goods", said Mr. Nguyen Tan Buu, the Deputy Director of the An Giang Department of Customs. Regarding illegal activities at the border areas of An Giang, shippers and owners of smuggled goods tend to move the sugar warehouses from Khanh Binh to Da Phuoc and Tinh Bien. One of the notorious magnates still operating actively is named Muoi T. after another magnate named “Ty Sugar” was arrested and prosecuted.

The water level of the river this year is relatively higher than the previous years, so perpetrators took advantage of boats to transport contraband sugar across the border, then loaded on trucks for transport inland. In order to resolve this situation, the Customs Control Team under An Giang Department of Customs has made plans to coordinate with the Police of Chau Doc City. On the evening of October 27, 2016, the Customs Control Team under An Giang Department of Customs in collaboration with the Economic Police Team of Chau Doc City patrolled and inspected the border areas of Ba Bai, Vinh Te Commune, Chau Doc City, An Giang Province, and seized 140 bags of sugar, with a total weight of 7 tons. However, this was a derelict smuggled case. Due to not arresting perpetrators and owners, Customs officers found it difficult to handle the case.

Another matter of smuggled cases is that perpetrators often liquefy smuggled sugar into brown sugar, which causes difficulties for settlement by functional forces. Particularly in the area opposite the Vinh Xuong border gate, there are 4 processing facilities in Cambodia which import ingredients from Thailand to process and then export to Vietnam. With 100 kg of normal sugar, the perpetrators can have 120kg of brown sugar through process sugar with a higher price. Recently, based on the information from the public, the Customs Branch of Vinh Xuong border gate under the An Giang Department of Customs discovered and seized a truck with plate number 67C 040.17 gathering illicit sugar for consumption, about 100 meters from the border gate.

Dealing with difficulties

Currently, at Vinh Nguon District, Chau Doc City, oppositee Go Ta Mau, there are a great number of people gambling and trading. A reporter of the Customs Newspaper observed that at least 10 ports were settled for people to go to Cambodia illegally, not under the control of border forces. Specifically, there were a lot of people transporting smuggled goods and at least 20 motor boats serving perpetrators across the border.

The Deputy Head of Customs Control Team under the An Giang Department of Customs, Mr. Le Van Tam said that the operations against smuggling of the Team faced a lot of difficulties. Currently, this area is no longer under Customs control according to Government Decree 01/2015 / ND-CP on details of the geographical areas of Customs operations and responsiblity for the prevention of smuggling and illegal transport of goods across the border areas.

Although there have been regulations on coordination between Customs and other functional forces as well as short-term plans, in fact, the coordination has not been effective. Ealier, the Customs Control Team was the leading force in the fight against smuggling in the area opposite Go Ta Mau. In late 2015 and 2016, the Customs Control Team destroyed many huge smuggling cases in this area although they were prevented drastically.

Another difficulty for Customs officers is that there are currently many perpetrators tracking the operations of Customs forces for the whole day. In front of the headquarters of the Customs Control Team, there are always groups of 3-5 people using mobile phones to call their fellow smugglers to avoid the detection of Customs officers. This proves that there are a great number of perpetrators smuggling in the area.

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At Vinh Xuong border gate area, within only 5 minutes, a reporter of the Customs Newspaper observed a man using a mobile phone to call his fellow dozens of times. When there was no control and patrol of Customs officers, there were a series of motorcycles and other vehicles transporting contraband cigarettes across the border, even across the front of the headquarters of the Customs Control Team. Mr. Tran Quoc Viet, The Deputy Head of the Customs Branch of Vinh Xuong border gate said that in this context, Customs forces must guard the border gate 24 hours per day, otherwise, the smuggled goods may penetrate inland anytime. Meanwhile, there were very few Customs forces to handle a great deal of work such as selltement of Customs procedures and control of passengers and vehicles entry and other administrative tasks, which has made the smuggling operations become more sophisticated.