Gold smuggling supported by airline staff, intercepted by coordinated forces

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The plastic package containing 4 pieces of golden metal is under the seat of Mr. Sang. Photo: T.L.

According to the police office, this has been the first case involving gold smuggling from Vietnam to South Korea which was detected at Noi Bai international airport.

In last July 2016, when the flight VN416 of Vietnam Airlines was preparing to take off at Noi Bai international airport, the functional forces suddenly appeared and checked the passengers’ seat. At that time, Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Sang (born in 1986) and Mrs. Hoang Thi Ngoc Anh (born 1982) who are spouses and residents of T5, Times City Condominium, Vinh Tuy Ward, Hai Ba Trung District, Hanoi realized that their behaviour was exposed. From 2 perpetrators, the smuggling ring has been investigated and clarified by functional forces.

According to the Customs Branch of Noi Bai international airport, the success of the investigation is due to close coordination of many relevant forces including customs, police, airport authorities and airport security. Regarding this incident, a representative of the Northern Airport Authority of Vietnam said, this was result of the increasing application of measures for coordination among functional forces in the fight against crime in smuggling at Noi Bai international airport.

During the time of investigation, the police office identified a sophisticated process of violation of Mr. Sang and Mrs. Ngoc Anh. In order to pass the checking forces and a system of scanners at airports, they asked a powerful technical worker of aircraft maintenance of Vietnam Airlines Engineering Company Limited (VAECO). So what are the "loopholes" to bring gold on board the plane?

Mrs. Hoang Thi Ngoc Anh is a flight attendant of Vietnam Airlines who was on maternity leave. Therefore, Ngoc Anh has a strong understanding of the security checks before passengers board the plane. In fact, if Mr. Sang and Mrs. Ngoc Anh directly transported the gold on the plane, it should be difficult for them to avoid the screening system of security forces and airport customs. Therefore, as a couple of passengers travelling to Korea, they bought tickets and informed schedule notification and the number of seats for Mr. Nhuan. The couple believed that, with the advantage of the aircraft maintenance worker, Mr. Nhuan can easily bring the gold by internal walkways without being detected. After boarding, Mr. Nhuan hid the gold under the couple’s seat with a magnet sticking to the iron bar of the Mr Sang’s seat cushion of. Despite detailed preparation, the perpetrators did not expect that the entire activities and tricks had been monitored and followed by the functional forces.

In order to ensure confidentiality, on the night of July 26, Customs and Security forces at Noi Bai international airport still let Mr. Sang and Mrs. Ngoc Anh conduct customs procedures to board the plane VN416 but tracked their movement and hiding process. When the plane VN416 Boeing 777 of Vietnam Airlines was preparing to take off, the functional forces suddenly appeared and checked the seats of Mr. Sang and Mrs. Ngoc Anh. Under the seat of Mr. Sang, functional forces found 1 plastic package, wrapped with black plastic, containing 4 pieces of golden, 5cm x 10cm x 5cm with weight of more than 3 kg together with magnets. Through initial testimony, the perpetrators claimed the package with a total volume of more than 3 kg gold, equivalent to 66.4 ounces (worth nearly 3 billion vnd). Mr. Sang and Mrs. Ngoc Anh confessed that they intended to transport this amount of gold to South Korea for the purpose of selling for profit and they didn’t declare to customs authorities. Then, the police authority conducted the assessment and valuation of the amount of gold. Through the assessment, the seized gold was pure gold (99.99%), with a total weight of 3,150.2 grams, worth more than 2.8 billion vnd.

In the afternoon of July 28, the investigating police office (Hanoi Police) ordered the urgent arrest and custody for 2 perpetrators under Article 153 of the Criminal Code in the smuggling case of 3 kg gold (approximately 66.4 ounces), including Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Sang and Mr. Pham Duy Nhuan (born in 1980), residing in Thanh Xuan, Soc Son, Hanoi, an aircraft maintenance technician of of Vietnam Airlines Engineering Company Limited (VAECO). In particular, Mrs. Hoang Thi Ngoc Anh (born in 1982, Vietnam Airlines flight attendant) who was engaged in smuggling didn’t have to apply preventive measures due to raising children under 36 months of age.

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According to the police office, airline is always the priority for perpetrators to carry out smuggling. Because of the difference in exchange rate of foreign currency items and precious metals, perpetrators tend to make use of airlines to apply sophisticated tricks to perform activities of violation. However, this incident also showed that there were many loopholes in the implementation of procedures and regulations of the relevant units at Noi Bai international airport. Following this incident, the Northern Airport Authority of Vietnam worked with the relevant units in order to clarify the implementation of the processes of regulations and management, to avoid the risk that the staff working at the airport, taking advantage of conditions of work environment performed activities of smuggling or abetted the perpetrators in the smuggling rings.