Drug crime through Tay Ninh border gates is more complicated

The Xa Mat Customs Branch uses a professional dog to detect drugs in luggage. Picture: D.N

According to Tay Ninh Customs Department, the drugs entering Vietnam through Tay Ninh are mainly heroin, marijuana, addiction medicines, methamphetamine; heroin transported from Vietnam to Cambodia is mostly methamphetamine… The cross-border drug trafficking activities in the Province have been more complicated with many sophisticated methods. The functional forces in the Province have been detected and arrested several cross-border drug trafficking cases, notably in the key areas at the Moc Bai and Xa Mat border gates where have a large and increasingly passenger flow, a huge volume of import-export goods. Drug crime operating across the land borders, Tay Ninh Border gates have mainly concentrated in the Moc Bai, Xa Mat border gates and the two sides of the border gates where have many paths which are easy to overcome. Criminals are mostly Vietnamese who are hired for transportation. In addition, there are the objects that exit from Vietnam to Cambodia’s casino for gambling as well as using and transporting heroin to use or provide for the members of the gang, thus it is difficult to detect.

On April 30, 2017, at Nam Hiep Thanh Hamlet, Loi Thuan Commune, Ben Cau District, Tay Ninh Province, the Moc Bai International Border Guard Station and the Task Force on Drug and Crime Prevention - The Tay Ninh Border Guard have coordinated with the Cambodia’s Bavet Police to arrest 3 people including Pham Van Thuan (24, Hai Phong Province), Nguyen Tung Anh (17, Hai Duong Province) and Nguyen Manh Tien (19, Quang Ninh Province) with 63.381 tablets of heroin.

As the suspects said, on April 27, 2017, Thuan and Anh went to Cambodia to gamble. Out of money, they were hired to transport 13 plastic bags containing more than 13,000 tablets of heroin for 50 million vnd by a Vietnamese man. When arrived in Vietnam, the two men above are arrested. At the same night, the functional forces collaborated with the Svay Rieng police (Cambodia) to open up the investigation, arresting the third suspect with 50,000 tablets of synthetic drugs.

Previously, at Moc Bai border gate, the Moc Bai Customs Branch and Drug Control Team under Tay Ninh Customs Department had collaborated with Moc Bai Border Guard, PC47 under Tay Ninh Police to arrest Nguyen Thi Be (born in 1958, resident in Go Dau District, Tay Ninh Province as she was transporting 6 heroin cakes wrapped in a noodle box. At the area, the Moc Bai Border Guard collaborated with the Moc Bai Customs Branch to arrest Dao Tien Dung, seized 50 tablets of heroin and a heroin box weighing 300g. Through the luggage scanning operation at the entrance of the Moc Bai border gate, the Moc Bai Customs Branch collaborated with Border Guard Station to inspect and arrest Doan Tuan Anh hiding 393 tablets of heroin. At the border crossing lane, the Moc Bai Customs Branch cooperated with the Moc Bai border guard station to inspect and detect a Cambodian transporting 2 cakes of heroin hidden in a clothing bundle.

At the Xa Mat border gate, the Anti-Smuggling Investigation Department collaborated with the Anti-Drug Control Team (under Tay Ninh Customs Department) , the Xa Mat Customs Branch, the Police of Tay Ninh Province, the Tay Ninh Border Guard to inspect and seized 15.8kg of methamphetamine hidden in a container transmitted from China to Cambodia through Xa Mat border gate.

However, according to the Tay Ninh Customs Department, the cooperation of the struggle to arrest criminals who illegally trade and transport drugs over time has achieved relative results, but it still not meets the requirements compared to the actual situation on the Tay Ninh. Catching the criminal’s information from the periphery are very difficult, thus, we are not active yet about the external information to have measured for inspecting, controlling, searching and arresting the cross-border drug trafficking cases.

In the coming time, in order to control strictly the area, and implement efficiently the cross-border drug crime prevention, Mr. Nguyen Thanh Phong, head of the Anti-drug Control Team under the Tay Ninh Customs Department says: “Based on the plans of the Branch and Province, the Tay Ninh Customs Department has planned to implement, direct its units to develop a plan which is suitable for the situation of each unit. The Department will continue to direct its branches at border gates, the Anti-drug Control Team, and the Customs Control Team to build a cooperation plan to exchange information with the Police of Tay Ninh Province and the border guard for improving the efficiency in the fight against drug crimes on the borders.