Preventing illegal transportation of goods via the postal service

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The functional forces checked goods at the Tan Thanh post office.

According to the report of the Steering Committee 389 of Lang Son province, there has been a situation of a number of people using postal services to transport smuggled goods.

According to statistics from the Steering Committee 389 of Lang Son province, since the beginning of the year, the provincial functional forces have discovered and handled nine cases of people taking advantage of postal services to transport smuggled goods.

Out of six violations detected by functional forces, the case at Tan Thanh Post Office is a typical case with a large amount of smuggled goods.

Specifically, on April 15, Market Management Team No. 7 coordinated with provincial 389 Team, Van Lang District Police, Tan Thanh Border Guard, Tan Thanh Customs Branch and Tan Thanh Commune People's Committee (Van Lang District). Checking at Tan Thanh Post Office, Van Lang District Post Office, they discovered fifty packages with a weight of nearly two tons, including one hundred and eighty types of goods made in China with abill of lading printed and ready to be shipped to a transaction address.

On September 18, the functional forces of Lang Son province also discovered, inspected and seized a truck of Viettel Post (Viettel Post Corporation) carrying large quantities of goods suspected of being smuggled.

Through the supervision of imported and exported goods at Huu Nghi international border gate, Huu Nghi Customs Branch (Lang Son Customs Department) also detected imported consignments under the independent transport declaration registered on September 6, 2020, of S1 Express Co., Ltd., whose address in Nam Tu Liem district, Hanoi shows signs of violation of the law. Through inspection, Huu Nghi Customs discovered five items on the list of banned imports.

Talking to Customs News, the representative of Lang Son Customs Department said that border-gate customs sub-departments have been strengthening their control against smuggling and trade fraud for imported goods that crossed theborder gate via express delivery services. However, Lang Son Customs Department said that this type of business always has potential risks of being used to mix counterfeit goods and goods that infringe intellectual property.

According to representatives of Steering Committee 389 of Lang Son province, through the cases of discovery and arrest during the period, the competent forces coordinated to verify that the shipment was smuggled goods from China that were "legalised" through sale invoices of a number of owners at Tan Thanh market. The smugglers have taken advantage of the postal service to transport these contraband goods into the domestic market for consumption.

The representative of the Steering Committee 389 of Lang Son province said that, not only this time, but in previous years (2018 and 2019), the anti-smuggling force discovered a number of similar cases.

According to the Steering Committee 389 of Lang Son province, when anti-smuggling forces inspect and control road and railway traffic, smugglers will continue to move, taking advantage of the postal service, as well as the courier service of postal units to transport contraband goods. The main items are clothing, cosmetics, electronics, food products, pharmaceuticals and cleaning chemicals.

Therefore, Lang Son Provincial People's Committee requested heads of members of the Steering Committee 389 of provinces, Chairmen of People's Committees of districts and cities to continue to direct functional forces to strengthen coordination to carry out the work of combating smuggling, trade fraud and counterfeit goods in general, with a focus on new forms of activities through postal services to transport smuggled goods; ensuring that there are no smuggling spots in the fields and geographical areas under their command.

Along with that, the functional forces need to strengthen inspection and control on traffic routes, postal service points, and business establishments that use sales invoices and value-added invoices in order to detect and strictly handle violators, not to form domestic smuggling lines and gangs; guiding and inspecting and organizing the implementation of the work of ensuring safety and security in postal activities.

Lang Son Provincial People's Committee requires the police, market management and customs forcesto focus on grasping the market situation, especially in key areas. At the same time, implementing coordination in the inspection of post offices andenterprises providing fast delivery services in the province.