How did nearly 180 iPhone 7s in a transit shipment "disappear"?

178 iPhones disappeared

On 17th, September, 2016, the Trieu Hien commercial services transportation Company Limited, at 557B Highway 13, Hiep Binh Phuoc Ward, Thu Duc District, Ho Chi Minh City, opened declaration No. 500055506943 for the transit shipment of 180 iPhone 7s and iPhone 7 Plus. However, this company declared only generic names of goods under the bill of lading as "cargo and equipment for telecommunications use" and transported by truck to the Moc Bai border gate of Tay Ninh province.

At 15.30 on 19 September, 2016, representatives of the Trieu Hien trade and services Transportation Company Limited (Trieu Hien Company) voluntarily opened and tallied the above shipments for representatives of the Customs Supervisor Team under the Customs Branch of the Tan Son Nhat International Airport to guide for procedures declaaration. Mr. Kim The Cuong - representative of the Trieu Hien Company supplemented to the notes section on transit declarations (because he was unable to fix the previously declared contents on the transit declarations) with contents of "iPhone 7, iPhone 7plus " but without a specific amount.

Around 20:00 on the same day, the Trieu Hien Company completed the departure Customs procedures and transported the above shipment on truck No. 54X-1897 from the SCSC warehouse - Tan Son Nhat Airport to Moc Bai - Tay Ninh. A representative of the border gate Customs Department of the Tan Son Nhat International Airport notified to the forces who were engaging in the coordination control of transit goods, including the C74 Department - Ministry of Public Security; Customs Inspection Team - HCM City Customs Department and Team 3 - Anti-Smuggling Investigation Department (General Department of Customs). Immediately after receiving the information, the Team 3-Anti-Smuggling Investigation Department timely exchanged the above information with the head of the Moc Bai border gate Customs Department to coordinate to inspect and tightly control the above shipment.

Around 15:00 on 20 September, 2016, representatives of the Trieu Hien company went to complete the transit procedures for the above consignment at the Moc Bai border gate Customs Branch. The Customs agency asked this company to open the shipment for actual inspection of goods under the witness of representatives of the C74 - Ministry of Public Security. The results showed that: the shipment seals were intact but there were only 2 mobile phones of iPhone (1 iPhone 7 and 1 iPhone 7 plus), 16 barrels of toothpaste (184 tubes) and 2 barrels of shampoo (18 bottles). Compared with the number that the enterprise checked previously, the shipment was missing 178 iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus but there was more toothpaste and shampoo. So team 3 has written the official document No. 66/ĐTCBL-Đ3 proposing the Moc Bai Customs Branch to pause the clearance for the above shipments, maintain the status quo of goods and means of transport to serve the verification of the cases.

To forge the Customs documents

Shortly after the incident was discovered, on 26 and 27 September, 2016, Team 3 worked with Mr. Dao Ngoc Hien, Director of the Trieu Hien Company. Mr. Hien confirmed that he is a director of the Trieu Hien company, but he was hired to be named as the director with the fee of 3 million VND/month. All of the papers, seals and documents of the company’s activities were managed by Mr. Kim The Cuong, Mr. Hien did not understand any activities of the Trieu Hien Company.

Mr. Hien also said that he didnot have to pay any salaries for Mr. Cuong but conversely, each month Mr. Cuong gave Mr. Hien 3 million VND and said that this is an "allowance for coffee". The total amount Mr. Hien received from Mr. Cuong was 9 million VND. Mr. Hien said the signature on the documents and principle contracts with relevant documents of the 180 iPhone shipments of Customs dossier No. 500055506943 dated 17th September, 2016 was not signed by him.

iPhone 7 in the transit shipments

Mr. Kim The Cuong - representative of the Trieu Hien Company who completed procedures for the above transit shipments identified that he is a represented staff for the Trieu Hien company to complete the entire Customs procedure for the above shipment. Mr. Cuong said that after receiving goods at the SCSC warehouse, the Tan Son Nhat Customs authorities asked him to open the shipment to identify the IMEI to determine if the goods are old or new.

Mr. Cuong opened the shipment by himself for Customs authorities to check. As a result, the parties identified the entire consignment was iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus mobile phones, a total of 180 brand-new units. After opening to check, Mr. Cuong directly packed the shipment to send to stock and completed the additional declaration procedures. Mr. Cuong declared the goods name as iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus, brand-new (without specific amount). When completing the Customs procedures, Mr. Cuong rented a truck to transport the goods to Moc Bai with a fee of 1.2 million VND without driver then he had to rent a separate driver name Tuan with a fee of 400,000 VND (but not paid).

Team 3 had hold in custody 1 bill of lading MAWB: 160-39639132 and 1 waybill HAWB: CAI-18071 (declaration of 500055506943) of Mr. Cuong and required him to bring the company’s seal to continue to work. Team 3 sent an invitation to him three times, but he expressed an uncooperative attitude, deliberately dodged to come to work.

Based on the working contents with the related objects, Team 3 has collected samples of Mr. Kim The Cuong’s signature - Director the Cuong Kim Trading Services Company Limited (Customs records of the Cuong Kim Company) and the signature named Trieu Ngoc Hien - Director of the Trieu Hien commercial and services transportation Company Limited (Customs records of the Trieu Hien company) to be taken for inspection to the Institute of Criminal Sciences - Ministry of Public security. Results showed that the signature names Director Trieu Ngoc Hien in the Customs declaration No. 500055506943 dated 17th September, 2016 compared with the signature of the Director Kim The Cuong that was signed in the Customs document of the Kim Cuong Trading Services Company Limited is the same person. Thus, the entire Customs documentation of the above transit shipment was fake.