Vietnam Customs participated in the Asia-Pacific Regional Intelligence Conference

Operation Mekong Dragon: Arrested nearly 100 drugs cases

The conference.

The 31st Asia-Pacific Regional Intelligence Conference took place from 13-15 November in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

47 delegates from member Customs agencies and international organisations participated in the conference, including: Australia, Bangladesh, Bultan, Cambodia, China, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Macau, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Singapore, Srilanka, Thailand, Vietnam; UNEP, TRAFFIC, UNODC, ROCB AP, RILO AP, RILO ECE and RILO CIS.

The conference was the most important event of the year for exchanging customs intelligence information and control on the Asia-Pacific region coordinated by the WCO- Regional Intelligence Liaison Office for Asia and the Pacific (WCO-RILO AP).

At the conference, RILO AP and member Customs agencies assessed the operation in the term 2018/2019 and set out operational orientations for the following year.

Delegates discussed activities in control with topics of the fight against drugs, environmental crime, commercial fraud, database application of CEN and CENComm (Customs Enforcement Network Communication Platform), supporting programmes for capacity building in analysis and exchange of information and customs intelligence products.

After a year of implementation, it has achieved outstanding results coordinated by the RILO AP with regional control campaigns deployed in the anti-smuggling such as the Operation Mekong Dragon, Operation Mekong Dragon Asia-Pacific, and Operation CATalyst 2.

Tens of tonnes of drugs were seized by member customs agencies in these operations.

A representative of the Anti-smuggling and Investigation Department at the conference

In addition, there are operations on fighting environmental crimes such as DEMETER IV, GREEN EARTH in controlling transportation of hazardous waste, Operation Thunderball in illegal transportation of wild animals and plants.

Hundreds of thousands of tonnes of waste and tens of thousands of tonnes of wildlife products have been seized by member Customs agencies. In these operations, Vietnam Customs plays an active.

Notably, Vietnam Customs as an initiative Customs agency on behalf of the member Customs agencies, presented the results of the Operation Mekong Dragon co-founded and operated by Vietnam Customs and China Customs and participated in by six Customs agencies in the Mekong sub-region,including Cambodia, China, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam; and Korea Customs participated as observers, RILO AP and UNODC as coordinators and supporters.

The operation had an official operation phase from September 2018 to March 2019. During this phase, 164 drug arrests were updated to the CENCOMM system with a total of 2,279.71 kg of drugs, including 98 import cases, 18 export cases and six transshipment cases.

Delegates pose for photos.

Remarkably, based on the success of the Operation Mekong Dragon, the RILO AP launched Operation Mekong Dragon Asia-Pacific to prevent the spread of methamphetamine in Asia-Pacific.

The operation was implemented from May 6 to June 16, RILO AP and UNODC coordinated the operation with the participation of 27 members, including 24 customs agencies in the AP, NCB Singapore and Malaysian Police. As a result, 142 cases of drug and drug precursor were arrested with a total of 27 tonnes of drugs.

At the conference, Vietnam Customs also proposed to continue the implementation of Operation Mekong Dragon 2 in a comprehensive scale with four key contents, including sharing information, increasing participation of members, promoting post-arrest analysis working group and considering expanding the scope of the operation. In addition, Vietnam Customs has also contributed suggestions for coordination and connection in the region on the basis of considering support for control activities in the country.

The participation of Vietnam Customs in regional control issues has been highly appreciated by the RILO AP, member Customs agencies and international organisations.