Illegally imported Chinese medicine materials are increasing again

	Lang Son: Continue to seize smuggled herb materials
	Solving problem of “preventing” smuggled herb ingredients
	Inspect five containers of herbs originating from China “camouflaged” carrot and white radish

The force inspecting the Chinese herbal medicine that was seized on the 13th of September. Photo: Giang Nguyen

Five cases were found in around 20 days

In around 20 days (since August 24), the competent forces of Lang Son province have discovered and handled six cases related to the transportation of herbal raw materials from the border to the inland in numbers of up to nearly 3 tons.

The beginning of a series of cases of illegally transporting herbal medicine materials through Lang Son province was on the afternoon of August 24, the Lang Son police force discovered and seized a passenger car of the Supervisory Board 12A-003.07, driven by Bui HuuDien, born in 1980, residing in Ga Nam area, Dong Mo town, Chi Lang district. The vehicle was transporting 51 packages including 12 types of Chinese medicine with a total weight of 1,483kg without invoices or proof of origin.

Working with competent forces, the driver said that the above goods were transported to a man named Son of unknown address from the border area of Loc Binh district to Bac Ninh city for consumption at a price of VND2 million. According to the driver's testimony, this is the second shipment carrying Chinese medicine to Son at the same location.

On August 30, while conducting patrols at the trail area near landmarks 1241 and 1245, in Tu Mich commune, Loc Binh district, the Border Guard force at Chi Ma border gate discovered many people receiving bags moving across the fence from the border. When detecting the competent force, the subjects took advantage of the night to flee into the forest, leaving the 22 bags of pineapples that contain Chinese medicinal materials with many types such as: muongmuong, dong quai, hoang Lien, Hoang Ky, the dragon, weighing more than 500kg.

On the morning of September 5, the working group at the Chi Ma Border Checkpoint Border Gate continued to detect a number of people transporting 210kg of herbal ingredients.

Most recently, on September 13, during patrol at the trail area of Quan Phat village, Yen Khoai commune, Loc Binh district, Chi Ma border gate Customs Branch (Lang Son Customs Department) coordinated with the Lang Son anti-smuggling, trade fraud and counterfeit inspection team and the Lang Son market management and police force to seize 350kg of Chinese medicine gathered at the border areas. Through inspection, these herbal ingredients include quince, cypress, honeysuckle and rhubarb. At the same time, the Chi Ma Border Guard Post also seized 130kg of Chinese medicinal materials left behind when they saw the competent forces.

Talking to reporters, the representative of the Lang Son 389 Steering Committee said that recently, the smuggling of medicine materials from China into Vietnam through the border area has tended to increase. The main tricks of the traffickers is to find a remote and isolated area from the border gate, take advantage of the night to bring smuggled goods from across the border into Vietnam, then hire border residents to continue transporting goods inland to bring goods to the provinces for consumption.

The cases are very sophisticated and use many tricks. In the past, the suspects transported the goods in large quantities; now the suspects often tear them apart and hire border residents to carry them across the border. When detecting that the competent forces were in control, the subjects were ready to leave the goods and flee towards China. More seriously, on the run, this group of transporters spread nails "blocking the way" to prevent the pursuit of the competent forces to easily escape, the representative of the 389 Lang Son Steering Committee said.

According to Lang Son's Steering Committee 389, using a passenger car to transport smuggled Chinese medicinal materials when carried across the border inland is a tactic to evade the control of relevant forces.

The related force inspecting the Chinese seized herbal medicine on September 13. Photo: Giang Nguyen

Quality control is difficult

Many trails and border entrances in Lang Son province are close to China's warehouses of raw materials and goods, which have created conditions for border residents to take advantage of and illegally transport goods, especially medicine raw materials. In the area of Chi Ma border gate, there are many open paths, so suspects have taken advantage of this to transport medicinal products inland.

Talking about imported medicinal raw materials through international border gates according to the provisions of Decree 54/2017 / ND-CP of the Government, the representative of Lang Son Customs Department said that currently only about eight or nine enterprises carry out import procedures through Huu Nghi international border gate and the number of imported consignments is also irregular. Therefore, when a shipment of imported medicinal herbs arrives, Huu Nghi Border Gate Customs Branch will coordinate with the Center for Pharmaceutical and Cosmetic Inspection under Lang Son Department of Health to take each sample for testing on quality standards. After the results are received, the new shipment will be cleared. Preliminary statistics show that in 2019, Huu Nghi Customs Branch has cleared customs clearance for about 1,668 tons of medicinal herbs.

According to the representative of Lang Son Customs Department, the management of imported medicinal herbs still faces many difficulties because this is a potentially risky commodity, each shipment usually has many items, and they are diverse in types. Therefore, the classification of goods as medicinal products for the Customs authorities encountered many difficulties, requiring close coordination of the specialized management agency.

Erase expiry date of products: simple action, unpredictable consequences VCN – Erasing expiry date of products which are close to expired date or already expired and ...

The representative of Lang Son Market Management Department emphasized that through market control, most of the raw materials sold on the market are currently lacking origin, making it difficult in quality management.