Seizure of drugs disguised in exported foods

More than 3.6 kg of drugs disguised as dried fish were discovered by HCM City Customs. Photo: H.N

Using dried fish and jellyfish to disguise drugs

More than 4.6 kg of drugs have just been seized by Tan Son Nhat International Airport Customs Branch in coordination with Anti-Drug Enforcement Team - HCM City Customs Department, Unit 6 of Anti-Smuggling and Investigation Department - General Department of Vietnam Customs and Drug-related crime Investigation Police Department (PC04) - HCM City police. The drugs are hidden sophisticatedly in exported personal non-merchant packages (gifts) via Tan Son Nhat international airport. It showed that the subjects would stop at nothing to avoid force for transporting drugs across border. In particular, a shipment of five packages sent by an individual from Hai Phong to HCM City through a customs broker company for export to Singapore was noticed.

Receiving the export declaration of this shipment, the Export Cargo Procedures Team - Tan Son Nhat International Airport Customs Branch discovered that the goods in 5 packages were declared as clothing, vegetarian food, cakes, so the unit coordinated with other forces to conduct physical inspection for those five packages. As a result, two out of five packages containing more than 3.6 kg of drugs were discovered, which were hidden very carefully. Four packages of drugs were disguised by wrapping around slices of dried fish, carefully vacuum-pressed to mix with dozens of similar packages.

With the same trick, on September 20, Tan Son Nhat International Airport Customs Branch discovered a package of food declared as vermicelli, rice vermicelli, jellyfish carrying out export procedure to Singapore with many suspicious signs. Hence, the unit coordinated with forces to conduct physical inspection. As a result, the working group discovered more than 1 kg of methamphetamine hidden among the jellyfish package. This shipment was entrusted by an individual in Ba Ria-Vung Tau province through a logistics service company in HCM City to carry out export procedures by air.

According to Customs officers who uncovered the case, the two shipments above were just plain food sent from Vietnam to abroad but went around many nations. The subject carried out export procedures to Singapore and the final destination was Australia, so the Customs authority also raised many questions to detect the tricks of the subjects. The authorities are currently searching for the owners of those goods.

The hidden owner

In the first nine months of 2021, HCM City Customs Department detected and tackled 60 cases of illegal export and import of narcotic substances, and seized about 146kg of drugs of all kinds.

According to the leader of HCM City Customs Department, the most sophisticated tricks that have emerged in recent times were those taking advantage of non-merchant exports by air to hide drugs aiming to transport abroad. At the end of March, a non-merchant export shipment with up to 22 packages of food was sent to the recipient of a company in Taiwan (China). Checking the customs declaration, Customs authority discovered that the goods sent abroad were all clothes, cosmetics, food so they questioned the shipment. From this suspicion, the Customs authority conducted a key inspection and discovered nearly 4 kg of ketamine (synthetic drug, worth more than VND 4 billion), which was sophisticatedly hidden in boxes and packages of cat food, and sealed with nylon so it looked like brand new 100%.

Next, at the beginning of April, at the area of ​​physical inspection of exported goods, customs authorities conduct physical inspection for personal non-merchant gifts exported to Taiwan (China) including 15 packages. It was declared as confectionery, supplementary food, vegetarian food, and adult clothing. As a result, one package was discovered containing many paper boxes containing nylon packages with the Himalaya Salt brand logo, containing 42 packs (nearly 700 grams) of ketamine.

According to the HCM City Customs Department, it showed that the tricks of hiding drugs in each case were different, but the subjects take advantage of hiding drugs in food packages, which were frequently sent items from Vietnam as gifts for relatives and friends from abroad. From the start of 2021 until now, HCM City Customs Department has detected five cases of illegal drug export via Tan Son Nhat International Airport with the number of drugs seized are more than 9.2kg. Notably, the cases of exporting drug-containing goods are all carried out by anonymous, only through import-export service firms to carry out customs procedures for exporting goods, so it is very difficult for authorities to catch the goods owners or the mastermind.

Recognising that drug-related crimes by air are very complex, subjects always use tricks, leaders of HCM City Customs Department directed units to continue to promote the spirit of initiative and notice during the task performance; building key customs officers who are good at professional qualification and experienced in scanning to perform the task at important positions, ensuring the performance of two main tasks, both facilitating businesses and anti-smuggling and against trade fraud.

In the final months of the year, the unit will focus on implementing plans and special projects on drug prevention and control; control the stages of pre-clearance, clearance and post-clearance audit, especially when carrying out clearance procedures for export goods, luggage and means of entry and exit; do not allow people to take advantage of green channel to carry out illegal transportation of narcotics.