Hanoi Customs voiced pilots for transportation of suspicious drugs

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Illustrative photo.

The press release stressed that in the spirit of vigilance, physical inspections of luggage and cargo at Noi Bai International Airport are regular tasks undertaken to detect dangerous and illegal goods under the provisions of the State. Especially, when Customs authorities find suspicious goods with signs of violation, they will carry out physical inspections according to the process of Customs procedures and Law.

"During the investigation of this case, the Customs Branch of Noi Bai International Airport actively coordinated with the relevant authorities to conduct verification in a timely fashion. In addition, passengers were also very cooperative and enthusiastic to help Customs authorities and other agencies to do their duty", Hanoi Department of Customs said.

Specifically, at 23:05 on August 18, 2016, through screening at a ​​Customs inspection station of the Luggage Procedures Team of the Customs Branch of Noi Bai International Airport, Customs officers found suspicious signs in the hand luggage of a passenger named Elmer Ederadan Sorrera (born 1971, Philippines, passport number 7357978 EC), who declared himself to be a professional pilot with an airline in Vietnam. This passenger implemented exit procedures from Hanoi (Vietnam) to Manila (Philippines).

After conducting physical inspections of this passenger’s hand luggage, Customs officers found a model airplane of an unusual weight. Through screening, Customs officers idintified a kind of white powder inside the model. With operational measures, Customs officers then carried out a quick drug test at the Institute of Criminal Sciences (Ministry of Public Security) in accordance with procedures. And the test result showed that the colour coincided with the colour indicator on drugs being present in the sample.

Due to suspicious signs of violation, the Customs Branch of Noi Bai International Airport immediately coordinated with relevant agencies of the Ministry of Public Security including the Police Department on criminal investigation of drugs (C47); the Department of security border gate (A98); the Anti-smuggling Department (C74) and other concerned parties to urgently make record of this incident and handed the details over to the Police Department on criminal investigation of drugs (C47) to conduct procedures according to the Law.

After the Police Department, in coordination with other functional authorities carried out sampling tests, they confirmed that the colour of the sample did not match the characteristics of heroin and cocaine.

On August 24, 2016, the Institute of Criminal Sciences also concluded that the result 3706 / C54 (TT2) asserted that "there was no narcotic components in 3 white samples: M1; M2 and M3" which were sent by the Police Department on criminal investigation of drugs (C47) in the incident of a passenger named Elmer Ederadan Sorrera on August 18, 2016.

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Regarding the content of certain media reports, during the time of detection and investigation by functional authorities, Hanoi Department of Customs said that they did not provide any information to confirm that this was or was not a case of transportation of drugs, as some newspapers published.