Cigarette smuggling is still hot on the southwest border

	Strictly inspect and handle for cigarette -smuggling case
	Recklessness of Cigarette smuggling at border areas
	Long An: Cigarette smuggling is still rising

Smuggled cigarettes and smugglers arrested by Tay Ninh Customs.

Facing with the above situation, implementing Official Telegraph No. 06 / CD- BCD389QG dated 7 September 2017 of the National Steering Committee 389 on strengthening the fight against cigarettes smuggling, especially the last months of the year, the southwestern provinces have implemented many plans to prevent the cigarettes smuggling from the Cambodian border to Vietnam.

Cigarette smuggling increased together with flood

At present, border areas of An Giang and Dong Thap provinces have been flooded, smugglers have used means of water transportation to gather smuggled cigarettes at warehouses, then transport them to the inland.

On 19 September 2017, An Giang Police Force inspected a suspected storage of smuggled cigarettes in Group 01, Binh Minh hamlet, Binh My commune, Chau Phu district, An Giang province and detected a large amount of illegally imported cigarettes. When detecting competent forces, the smugglers quickly ran away. Through the inspection, the forces identified 11,800 packs of foreign cigarettes and 8 motorcycles (means of transportation).

On the early morning of 9 September 2017, the navy police and An Giang police force arrested a cigarette trafficking by waterway at the canal area in Binh My commune, Chau Phu district, An Giang province and seized more than 4,300 packs of cigarettes. When the navy police force gave out a signal to stop the vehicle for inspection, the perpetrators immediately increased their speed and fled. They drove their boat towards the bank and left the boat and escaped.

Earlier, on the night of 6 September 2017, at the border area in Xuan Bien village, Tinh Bien town, Tinh Bien district, An Giang province, Tinh Bien Border Guard discovered three perpetrators on a small boat carrying many sacks and running with high speed from Cambodia to Vietnam with suspicious signs, so the force asked to stop to inspect. Regardless of the stop command of the Border Guard force, the three perpetrators raised the speed and hit the boat near the bank and drowned the boat, then jumped to the bank, escaped and left 15 sacks with 7,500 packs of foreign cigarettes. Only August, An Giang's forces arrested more than 110,000 packs of smuggled cigarettes, increasing in size and number of shipments over previous months. This number in Dong Thap was 33,000 packs.

Smuggled cigarettes seized by An Giang competent force

Exciting at borders

According to the assessment of competent forces, smuggled cigarettes in Tay Ninh and Long An were gathered at areas nearby the borders to wait for appropriate times such as night, holidays, breaks or places far away from the inspection and control of competent forces to transport across borders. After crossing the borders, cigarettes will be shipped immediately to motorcycles that will run at high speed in a group or in camouflage; or hidden in legitimate goods on passenger cars, trucks, boats with a large capacity to transport to the inland for consumption.

In addition, the leading smugglers did not directly transport the goods; they hired transporters with small quantities, so it was difficult to arrest. If they were arrested, most of the smuggled amount that they carry is not enough for prosecution. Mr. Huynh Van Duc, Director of Tay Ninh Customs Department, Deputy Head of Tay Ninh Standing Steering Committee 389 said that the implementation of the Prime Minister’s Directive No. 30 / CT-TTg dated 30 September 2014 on strengthening the fight against cigarette smuggling in Tay Ninh province was implemented synchronously and drastically; the competent forces have destroyed many cases of trade, storage and transport of cigarette with high value, contributing to stabilizing the domestic production and social order and safety in the localities. However, the cigarette smuggling is still complicated and negatively impacts on the security and social order, people’s health, and employment. According to the statistics of the Tay Ninh Standing Steering Committee 389 in the first nine months of 2017, the competent forces have detected and arrested 425,799 packs of cigarettes.

Similarly, from the beginning of the year, Long An forces have detected and processed over 1,000 cases of trafficking, smuggling, and consumption of cigarettes, including the confiscation and destruction of over 1.3 million packs of cigarettes. According to Colonel Phan Van Phuc, Deputy Commander of Long An Border Guard, the cigarette smuggling at Long An border gate has reduced significantly. Specifically, according to the Border Guard’s investigation, by mid-2016, the Long An border route had 7 warehouses of cigarette, 32 professional leading smugglers, 106 transporters and 38 perpetrators in charge of monitoring the competent forces. But now, the province has only 4 warehouses, 19 professional smugglers, 48 transporters and 26 perpetrators monitoring anti-smuggling force. Although cigarette smuggling is not as public as before, it changes into small and complicated smuggling.

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Implementing the guidance of the National Steering Committee 389 on the fight against cigarette smuggling, especially in the upcoming Tet holiday, leaders of An Giang, Long An and Tay Ninh provinces said that the provinces will drastically carry out patrol and control of cigarette smuggling. In particular, in the border area, competent forces will strengthen patrol and control, cooperate with local authorities to develop plans, strengthen the forces and tools to implement operational measures on key routes and areas at borders to promptly prevent smuggled cigarettes crossing the border; to strictly control the areas, promptly arrest and seriously handle cigarette smugglers.