Many cases of smuggling through border gates in HCMC prosecuted

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Many cases of smuggling through border gates in HCMC prosecuted. Photo: T.H.

In late 2016, the HCM City Customs Department issued 7 Decisions to prosecute criminal cases on charges of "smuggling" and "illegal transportation of goods across borders" for 7 violated cases at seaports and Tan Son Nhat international airport. In particular, the Customs Branch of Sai Gon port, Zone 1 has prosecuted 4 cases, including 2 cases of smuggling and illegal transportation of ivory from Africa to Vietnam, and 2 cases of transportation of prohibited goods. Besides, the Customs Branch of Tan Son Nhat international airport has prosecuted 2 cases on charges of illegal transportation of goods and the Customs Branch of Sai Gon port, Zone 3 has prosecuted 1 case on charges of smuggling.

In some cases involving the transportation of imported prohibited goods, there was a typical case of Tan Phung Hoang Trading Services Co. Ltd on charges of smuggling. In May 2015, this company opened import declarations to declare the shipment of 180 water purification machines, made in China, worth nearly 78 million vnd with a tax rate of 0%. Receiving information from the Risk Management Department under the General Department of Vietnam Customs related to this shipment, the Customs Branch of Sai Gon port, Zone 1 conducted physical inspections of the goods. However, after Customs officers announced the decision of inspections due to suspicious signs of the shipment, Tan Phung Hoang Trading Services Co. Ltd issued a document to reject the goods and the company did not comply with orders of the Customs force. Through physical inspections, the shipment included 29 used bicycles, 15 electric bicycles and 7 motorbikes with the quality remaining approximately at 30-80%, on the list of prohibited imports.

Another case is that Doanh Gia Co. Ltd (Tan Binh District, Ho Chi Minh City) imported 2 containers through Cat Lai port at the end of 2015.

The bill of lading showed that imported goods included coffee, racing bikes, musical speakers and a power transmitter. Detecting suspicious signs, the Customs Branch of Sai Gon port, Zone 1 collaborated with the Police Department of Crime Prevention and Anti-Smuggling (C74) under the Ministry of Public Security to conduct physical inspections of the shipment. In 2 containers, there were used electronic goods, cosmetic products, food items on the list of prohibited imports, and conditional prohibited imports. Through the results of physical inspections, Customs officers discovered that this company falsified documents to legalize Customs declarations to avoid detection and inspections of the Customs force. In November 2016, the Customs Branch of Sai Gon port, Zone 1 prosecuted a criminal case on charges of "illegal transportation of goods across borders" at Cat Lai port, involving Doanh Gia Co. Ltd.

According to the HCM City Customs Department, in the first 11 months of 2016, the HCM City Customs Department detected and made a record of 1,372 violated cases, with a value of 539.4 billion vnd, a decrease of 36.3% in quantity, but an increase of 465% in value over the same period in 2015. In particular, there were 1,267 cases of smuggling, commercial fraud and violations of Customs procedures, 13 cases involving weapons and explosives, 66 other violated cases; and 26 cases of drugs and addictive medicines. For cases involving criminal signs, the HCM City Customs Department transferred 47 cases to the HCM City People's Procuracy, an increase of 56.7% over the same period last year. In particular, the HCM City People's Procuracy has requested the Police to prosecute 35 cases, an increase of 40% over the same period last year.

In addition, at present, the HCM City Customs Department is preparing records and documents to prosecute some recent serious violations, especially 5 cases of illegal transportation of ivory through Cat Lai port. The cases are being verified by Customs authorities for prosecution. Recently, there has been a case of importing more than 8 tons of non-commercial and prohibited goods with signs of criminal violations, worth nearly 550 million vnd detected and handled by the Customs Branch of Sai Gon port, Zone 3. This shipment was registered to conduct import procedures by Thanh Nhu Y Co. Ltd. (in Da Lat, Lam Dong). However, through verification, the functional forces discovered that this company did not operate at the registered address and the director of this company did not cooperate with Customs in handling the violated shipment. Another case is that Customs officers detected 430 kg of oats, worth nearly 5 billion vnd but declared as plastic at bonded warehouses of KCTC Vietnam Company Limited in August 2016, which has been investigated by the HCM City Customs Department for prosecution.

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According to the HCM City Customs Department, most serious violations with criminal signs were handled by the HCM City Customs Department in collaboration with the HCM City People's Procuracy. For the cases approved by the HCM City People's Procuracy for prosecution, the HCM City Customs Department will immediately implement necessary procedures to transfer to competent agencies for prosecution.