Tan Son Nhat Customs prevents drug smuggling

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Leaders of HCM city Customs Department reward collectives and individuals of Tan Son Nhat International Airport Customs Branch. Photo: T.H

Detecting sophisticated tricks to export Ketamine for the first time

A sophisticated case of drugs hidden inside a consignment exported to Taiwan via air was handled by Tan Son Nhat International Airport Customs Branch under HCM City Customs Department while waiting for customs clearance at the end of March.

The owner of shipment was N.T.T, aged 25 in Binh Thuan province. The goods were stated on the customs clearance as clothes, cosmetics and food. The consignee is a company in Taiwan. The customs conducted a physical inspection for this shipment through goods screening and information collection.

Inspecting 22 goods packages, the Customs detected 3.988 kg of Ketamine hidden inside new cat food packages sealed with nylon. This is the first time that the Customs detected such a sophisticated trick.

Manager of Tan Son Nhat International Airport Customs Branch Bui Le Hung said that air is one of the hot spots for suspects to illegally transport drugs. Right from the first days of the year, the branch has taken measures to closely control and supervise import and export goods with suspicious signs of illegally transporting drug precursors and drugs via the international airport.

Tan Son Nhat International Airport Customs Branch handled six cases of illegal drug transportation via air and seized 12.7kg of drugs in the last two weeks of March.

The Export Cargo Customs Procedures Team arrested a suspect who illegally exported 2.248 grams of Ketamine and 2.017 grams of MDMA while carrying out customs clearance. These drugs were hidden inside Wake Up coffee bags to export to South Korea.

Drugs hidden inside gift shipments

Tan Son Nhat International Airport Customs Branch has promptly detected cases of drugs hidden inside gift shipments sent from abroad to Vietnam via Tan Son Nhat International Airport. From the the beginning of 2020, the Import Cargo Customs Procedures Team has discovered and seized drugs hidden in imported gift shipments declared in 20 customs declarations, with the total weight of 37,962.76 grams. Of which, 37,853.42 grams of marijuana, 46,769 grams of cocaine, 62,566 grams of Methamphetamine and 10ml of Ketamine.

Due to the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, import and export activities of goods via international airway have been seriously affected. Customs units have provided solutions to perform the “dual task” of both pandemic prevention and control, and performing customs management in the area. In particular, the fight against smuggling, especially drug prevention, has always been identified as an important task.

Through drug cases detected and arrested, Tan Son Nhat International Airport Customs Branch said that the suspects used sophisticated tricks by hiding drugs and cannabis inside import and export shipments, or food cans, with clear labels that are difficult to detect from the outside. However, motivated by high level of vigilance and the accurate image analysis by customs officers for suspicious shipments, the Customs has reported leaders to conduct physical inspections and detect tricks of smugglers.

At the ceremony awarding certificates of merit to Tan Son Nhat International Airport Customs Branch and units on April 8, the Director of Ho Chi Minh City Customs Department Dinh Ngoc Thang said that drug-related crimes via air are very complicated, the suspects use increasingly sophisticated tricks, and collude with international suspects to illegally transport drugs.

Director Dinh Ngoc Thang directed officials of Tan Son Nhat International Airport Customs Branch to raise the spirit of initiative and vigilance in performing tasks; assign qualified and experienced customs officials in key positions to perform two main tasks of both facilitating and effectively combating smuggling and commercial fraud.