Smuggled cigarettes still “hot” in An Giang province

Subjects and evidence of the case of 32,000 packs of smuggled cigarettes that were seized by An Giang Police on 26/4/2018

"Heating" on Highway 91

In the evening of 6/5, on the Highway 91 in the area of Long Xuyen City (An Giang province), Long Xuyen City Police caught a truck loaded full of smuggled foreign cigarettes. The case was discovered when the Economic Police team coordinated with the Traffic Police team. Long Xuyen City Police signaled the car to stop. The car with license plate 51D-313.66, was driven by Son So Da (born in 1987, who lives in Ward 5, Soc Trang City, Soc Trang Province).

Through the inspection, the competent force in coordination with the Traffic Police Team, discovered 17,000 smuggled foreign cigarettes, including Hero, Jet and Scott brands that were transported on the above truck. The driver confessed that for the above cigarettes he was hired to transport them from An Giang province to Soc Trang province for 600,000 VND to a man whose name is Huy, and comes from from Chau Phu district.

Previously, on 4/5, also in this area, Long Xuyen City Police discovered and arrested a motorcyclist, (license plate 67K1 - 115.92) on route from Chau Doc to Long Xuyen while transporting 1,300 packets of smuggled foreign cigarettes. Notably, the smuggler used sealed old shirts to contain cigarettes inside sleeves, and hung on shelves in the same way as if selling clothes. However, the offender left the cargo and escaped while he was being inspected by competent forces.

Additionally, on the first day of May 2018, Chau Phu Traffic Police officers under the Road Traffic Police Division, while on their way to patrol and control Highway 91 in My Duc commune, Chau Phu district, An Giang province, saw a suspicious looking passenger car with license plate 67B - 003.25, and requested it to stop for inspection. The driver was Huynh Van Phuoc (born in 1979 and lives in Cho Moi district, An Giang province). He failed to provide details of the origin of more than 1,100 packets of foreign cigarettes contained in paper cartons, suitcases and black plastic bags. This car belongs to T.T.X, who is "famous" for being involved in transporting smuggled cigarettes. The vehicle with the license plate 67B - 011.25, registered to T.T.X, was previously caught when transporting 450 packs of foreign cigarettes on the highway 91.

Earlier, at dawn on 26/4, the Economic Police Department coordinated with the Road and Rail Traffic Police Division - An Giang Police, to inspect a truck with license plate, 67C - 070.87, driven by Nguyen Hoang Tam (born in 1990 and lives in Vinh Thanh Trung, Chau Phu, An Giang). On board, there was also Nguyen Van Tam (known as Hoa, (born in 1988 in Vinh Nguon ward, Chau Doc town, An Giang province). As a result, the competent forces discovered 32,000 packs of Hero, Jet, Nelson, and Ram cigarette brands. The cigarettes were contained in 32 light blue nylon bags. The police force made records and issued a decision to arrest the two subjects mentioned above, along with confiscating the vehicle and relevant papers, and all material evidences in order to conduct an investigation for verification in accordance with the law. The subjects claimed that all the above cigarettes were transported from Chau Phu A Ward, Chau Doc City to Long Xuyen City for consumption. The total value is about 400 million VND.

Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Dang Khoa, Deputy Head of Division PC 46 - Police of An Giang province said: "Smuggling activities are always complicated. The smugglers are always close to anti-smuggling forces, always changing the mode of transport and with concealment tricks, so that monitoring, tracking and arrests are very difficult”.

New solutions for handling confiscated smuggled cigarette

Recently, the Prime Minister signed a Decision stipulating the destruction of confiscated smuggled foreign cigarettes that are counterfeit; poor quality cigarettes, and run pilot program for auctions sales of smuggled cigarettes confiscated in order to ensure quality for exporting. The identification of smuggled cigarettes will be conducted by competent authorities in coordination with specialized authorities for quality evaluation. If the smuggled cigarettes are counterfeit, or fail to meet the quality standards, they will be destroyed in accordance with the provisions of law.

However, according to authorities in An Giang province, the guidance for appraising smuggled cigarettes needs to more specific and detailed in order not to be misleading. At the same time, collection and identification should be quick, because the current storage condition of the authorities is no guarantee. Longer storage times certainly affect the quality of cigarettes.