Customs seized a car transporting 480 bottles of Macallan liquor

Half a billion worth of foreign wine seized from shipment in Quang Tri

Macallan liquor was seized by competent forces. Photo provided by Unit 2

On September 23 2018, the leader of the Central Anti-smuggling Enforcement Unit- Unit 2 (under the Anti-smuggling and Investigation Department of the General Department of Vietnam Customs) said that on September 22, receiving information about a car transporting a large quantity of smuggled goods towards Lao Bao-Dong Ha (Quang Tri). The competent forces included the Anti-smuggling and Investigation Department, Special Reconnaissance Team, Specialized Team for drug and crime prevention, Lao Bao International Border Guard Station (Quang Tri Border Guards) and Specialized group for Drug and Crime prevention (High Command of Border Guard), that coordinated to apprehend the car at Km 74 on National Route 9 (Tan Long commune, Huong Hoa district, Quang Tri province).

However, when detecting the competent forces, the driver of the car with the Plate No. BKS 74K-2106 did not stop when instructed by the competent forces and ran to the border gate.

The competent forces chased the driver, but he drove the car into the warehouse of Ms. Le Thi Hong Lan (born 1969, residing Nam Xuan Duc village, Tan Thanh commune, Huong Hoa district) and left the car and goods to escape.

Inspecting the car, the forces seized 40 boxes with a total 480 Macallan liquor bottles.

Of which, there were 420 x 700ml bottles and 60 x 1000ml bottles valued at about VND 480 million.

At the time of inspection, the competent forces recorded that the total number of liquor bottles were of unknown origin and without legal documents.

“The liquor and the car were transferred to Lao Bao International Border Guard Station to handle as per regulations,” the Unit 2’s leader said.

The Unit 2’s leader added that the coordination complied with Plan 260/KH-BCD389 of the National Steering Committee 389 (issued on 15th July 2018) on anti-smuggling and illegal transportation of goods across border gates in 3 provinces: Ha Tinh, Quang Binh and Quang Tri.

According to Unit 2’s leader, since implementing Plan 260 up to now, only on the National Route 9, the unit has coordinated with other competent forces to seize 20 violations, and the seized goods were mainly cigarettes, alcohol, beer and sugar.