Variety of tricks in transporting contraband

An Giang Customs coordinates with An Giang Inter-sectoral working group on anti-smuggling to inspect a warehouse. Photo: An Giang Customs

Transporting contraband by express delivery

Recently, the situation of goods originating from overseas and of unknown origin being consigned through express delivery services tended to increase.

On April 1, the working group of general investigation of Chau Thanh Police conducted an inspection at Hue Nghia freight at Hoa Long IV, An Chau Town, Chau Thanh ward. Through inspection, the working group detected that there were many kinds of goods of unknown origin including seven sets of used air-conditioners branded TOSHIBA, three

boxes of supplementary foods containing 450 bottles of BOSSTER C1000, BONIVEIN, BONIDIABET and many old clothes.

At the time of inspection, the manager of Hue Nghia freight could not present invoices and documents proving the origin of goods. Currently, the police agency is expanding the investigation and verification of these goods.

An Giang police are also investigating the case of Phuong Trang truck with license plate No.51C - 504.35 and driven by Dang Thanh Phat (born in 1988, residing in Phu Huu 1 hamlet, Le Chanh commune, Tan Chau town, An Giang province) due to transporting a large amount of suspected smuggled goods.

Earlier, the An Giang Inter-sectoral Working Group on anti-smuggling also detected a vehicle traveling from Ho Chi Minh City to An Giang with suspicious signs, then they stopped the vehicle for an inspection. As a result, the truck carried many consigned orders that contained a large number of goods of unknown origin and smuggled goods, including 1,240 oil bottles, 96 medicine bottles, 12 towels, 215 clothes and 190 bottles of cream. Those items had foreign labels.

In addition, the An Giang inter-sectoral working group on anti-smuggling checked and detected a large number of goods of foreign origin and unknown origin sent through the express delivery system in the border district of An Phu.

At the end of 2021, while patrolling in An Phu district, An Giang province, the Inter-sectoral Working Group on anti-smuggling worked with the Phu Huu Border Post to stop a truck transporting many consigned goods suspected of being smuggled at Dong Ky hamlet, Quoc Thai commune.

Through inspection, the competent forces found that there were many orders containing three used laptops of Macbook Pro, ASUS, DELL brands; 25 cellphones branded Samsung, Oppo, more than 100 phone components including charging cables, headphones, bluetooth speakers and 200 other products that were sandals and leather bags in the trunk of the truck.

According to the testimony of driver Le Hoang An (born in 1982, residing in Chau Phu A ward, Chau Doc city), he transported goods for Hue Nghia company, with a total value of about VND100 million.

Avoiding responsibility when being discovered

According to the Steering Committee 389 of An Giang province, the subjects took advantage of sending goods via express delivery or consignment to hide contraband. It showed that the subjects concealed their faces and evaded responsibility if they were caught by the authorities.

Recently, the An Giang inter-sectoral working group on anti-smuggling coordinated with the An Phu district police to inspect the freight point of J&T express delivery company in An Thanh hamlet, An Phu town which was managed by Nguyen Van Tri (born in 1990, residing in An Phu town) as the representative.

The working group discovered many boxes, consignment bags, containing more than 4,900 products including cosmetics, household appliances, perfumes, masks, and bags, originating from Thailand, China and of unknown origin. The value of goods was more than VND300 million. At the time of inspection, Nguyen Van Tri could not present invoices and documents proving the origin of the above goods, so the working group made a record of administrative violations, temporarily seized the exhibits, and handed them over to An Phu District Police for verifying and clarifying.

Besides that, the An Giang Inter-sectoral working group on anti-smuggling also continuously discovered many cases of transporting contraband packages from Ho Chi Minh City to An Giang.

In early March 2022, through the information provided by a local resident, the An Giang inter-sectoral working group on anti-smuggling checked a truck that was stopped at Tra Su area, Nha Bang town, Tinh Bien district, and discovered that it was carrying a large number of foreign-branded goods and suspected as smuggled goods included 4,800 bottles of various oils, 2,400 patches, 120 boxes of ginseng cream and 24 bottles of rollers.

Driver Ha Minh Hanh (born in 1992, residing in Tinh Bien town, Tinh Bien district) was unable to present invoices and documents proving the origin of the above goods. He declared that he was hired to transport them for other people.

In Ho Chi Minh City, at the end of 2021, the Economic Police Team, the Police of District 12, Ho Chi Minh City coordinated with the Market Surveillance Team No. 12, the HCMC Market Surveillance Department to inspect three warehouses in Tan Thoi Hiep ward, District 12, Ho Chi Minh City. There, the competent authorities discovered tens of thousands of products such as household appliances, cosmetics and sports equipment, etc.

Notably, at the warehouses, the competent authorities detected many goods that had been pre-packed and were waiting to be shipped. Initially, the owner of the above warehouses had not been able to present documents proving the origin of the goods. After completing the procedures, the competent forces sealed the exhibits and brought them to the headquarters for further investigation and handling in accordance with the regulations.