Smuggled and counterfeit plant protection drugs spill over the border

Smuggled bottles of plant protection drugs were seized on March 28

Catch a series of smuggling cases

Recently, on the An Giang border, there has been a situation of smuggling of plant protection drugs. Border inter-agency forces have tackled a large-scale smuggling case. On May 13, in the area of ​​Thu Khoa Nghia Street, Chau Phu A Ward (Chau Doc City, An Giang Province), the working group of the Traffic Police Team of the City Police. Chau Doc seized a passenger car with license plate 67B-005.83 transporting 400 bottles of plant protection drugs without receipts. Driver Le Van Hoang (born in 1968, living in Chi Lang town, Tinh Bien district, An Giang province) said the car traveled on the route Long Binh (An Giang) - Ha Tien (Kien Giang), but the number of goods above did not have any proof of origin documents.

On April 24, the inter-agency anti-smuggling force on the border of An Giang province belonging to Chau Doc group found a motel room at Hoa Binh cluster, Vinh My ward, Chau Doc city contained hundreds of bottles and thousands of packages of plant protection drugs with foreign origin and used household goods. At the time of inspection, Nguyen Thanh Phuong, the tenant could not produce invoices and documents proving the legal origin of said goods.

In some cases, subjects gathered thousands of bottles of plant protection drugs, but did not admit to owning them when they were arrested. On the morning of March 28, while patrolling for anti-smuggling control in the district, arriving at the area of ​​group 12, Binh An 1 hamlet, An Hoa commune, Chau Thanh district, the working group of the General Investigation Team District Security, discovered in front of a house on Highway 91 with 38 cartons of paper and six sacks, inside containing 1,600 bottles and 60 cans of foreign-labelled pesticides. At the time of inspection, no one claimed ownership of this pesticide.

According to the inter-agency and anti-smuggling force in An Giang province, smuggled plant protection drugs are gathered by smugglers and hidden in warehouses in border areas, awaiting the opportunity to be transported inland for consumption. At the end of January 2021, the Inter-sectoral Working Group on Anti-Smuggling in An Phu area (An Giang) inspected and discovered a large amount of goods suspected of pesticides hidden in warehouses in the border area (Quoc Khanh hamlet, Quoc Thai village, An Phu district, An Giang province). Through the initial inspection, the warehouse was found in a locked condition and the owner could not be identified, so the functional force contacted the local government to unlock the warehouse, discovered 2,857 bottles and cans of suspected plant protection drugs, namely herbicides, pesticides, and rat poisons, all of foreign origin

By the end of 2020, more than 4.6 tonnes of foreign-brand plant protection drugs, outside the list of permitted use and of unknown origin, were found by the Inter-sectoral Working Group to prevent smuggling, trade fraud and illegal goods. The fakes in An Giang were discovered in a warehouse at an agricultural material trading establishment (An Phu commune, Tinh Bien district) when performing an inspection of this establishment. These drugs are packaged in 1 kg per pack, without invoices and documents proving their origin.

Hiding in the shadow of a business producing fake drugs

Not only illegally importing pesticides, pesticide production and consumption in border areas is also quite complex and authorities have discovered many subjects hiding in the shadow of businesses to produce fake drugs. On the morning of May 11, on National Highway 91, the section of Binh My commune, Chau Phu district, An Giang, the working group of the Environmental Police Department worked with the Road Traffic Police Department of the Provincial Police, Pham Thanh Cong, born in 1979, resides in Hung Thanh hamlet, Phu Hung commune, Phu Tan district, An Giang province, Director of Phu Phu Dat Trading Service Co., Ltd., operating a transport vehicle transferred 280 bottles of plant protection drugs with foreign and Vietnamese labels, suspected not to be on the list of pesticides allowed to be circulated in Vietnam and of unknown origin.

From the above incident, the working group carried out an emergency search of Phu Phu Dat Trading and Service Co., Ltd at 146, Group 6, Hung Thanh Hamlet, Phu Hung Commune, Phu Tan District, An Giang, discovered and seized more than 50 kg of chemicals, some 60 kg of plastic caps and bottles, about 10 kg of labels, two mixers and many other exhibits related to the illegal production of plant protection drugs at Pham Thanh Cong's company.

Previously, at the end of 2020, the investigative police agency of An Giang Public Security Department prosecuted the accused and ordered the arrest of Le Van Tinh for three months, born in 1981, residing in group 24, Phu Hoa 2 hamlet Binh Hoa commune, Chau Thanh district, An Giang province on the crime of "Manufacturing fake goods as plant protection drugs". According to the case file, the Economic Police force of An Giang province police discovered Nguyen Thanh Long was driving a motorbike to transport 180 bottles of plant protection drugs with brands of Filia 525SE and Anvil 5SC without receipts and made the arrest. Conducted inspection of Long's whereabouts, functional forces discovered and seized many bottles, bottle caps, capping machines, pigments and brands of many types of plant protection drugs for the extraction and preparation of fake plant protection drugs. During the investigation process, through the testimony of Long and collected documents and evidence, the investigating agency determined that Tinh was the mastermind and hired Long to produce fake plant protection drugs for sale illicit profits.

To prevent the smuggling and production of fake pesticides, on May 14, the General Department of Market Management and the Plant Protection Department signed an agreement on the inspection, control and detection of pesticides to fight, prevent and handle violations of the law in the production and trading of fertilisers and pesticides.

Local customs units are strengthening the inspection and control of imported plant protection drugs under the direction of the General Department of Customs. The Customs agency only handles the clearance of plant protection drug shipments that meet the provisions of customs law and requirements, such as: on the list of pesticides allowed to be used in Vietnam; for plant protection drugs specified in Clause 2, Article 67 of the Law on Plant Protection and Quarantine, they may only be imported with a permit issued by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.