Customs fights to close many cases of violation

Director General of Vietnam Customs Nguyen Van Can presented at the conference. Photo: Q.H

Those were contents mentioned in the presentation of Director General of Vietnam Customs Nguyen Van Can at the national conference on summary the work in 2020 and orientation, missions for 2021 of Steering Committee 138/CP and National Steering Committee 389 on 7/1.

Director General Nguyen Van Can emphasised that, on the enforcement of crime prevention, anti-smuggling in the customs sector, by 2020, the Customs force discovered, arrested and handled nearly 17,000 cases of Customs law violation, prosecuted 47 cases and proposed for prosecution nearly 150 cases.

There was an emergence of a group of criminals who illegally traded and transported drugs across the border.

The authorities also identified that subjects transporting drugs not only crossed through the open paths and trail areas but also through all border gate areas at sea, road and air.

Therefore, from the beginning of the year, the Customs force worked to direct, as well as coordinate with competent forces in the border areas such as the Border Defence force and the Police to tackle many cases.

Notably, many cases were discovered by Customs using scanning equipment.

For example, in a case in Ha Tinh, drugs were hidden inside wooden statues, if there was no scanning device, it was very difficult to detect.

In 2020, many subjects took advantage of drug transportation via express delivery service through the use of e-commerce.

Customs forces discovered them at the border gates, and worked with the police to arrest many subjects in the provinces and cities.

Director General Nguyen Van Can proposed amending the policies of enterprises operating express delivery service so that goods need to be checked before delivering to a consignee to avoid the situation when the competent forces detect the infringing goods, the subject refuses to receive the goods and even leaves the goods.

For subjects that transport prohibited goods across the border, the Customs force also stated that when implementing pandemic prevention and control, forces performed duty at the posts at all land border areas, smuggled goods, counterfeit goods and prohibited goods still occurred and transported through border gate areas.

Therefore, the Customs force arrested and coordinated with the police and border defence forces to seize many cases of violations of customs laws.

For example, in Lao Cai, the Customs force detected and seized 100 cargo trucks, equivalent to 200 containers with a total cargo weight up to 1,500 tonnes.

Director General Nguyen Van Can suggested a preliminary declaration should be made before bringing goods into a border area.