Moc Bai border gate bustling during last days of the year

	Cambodian woman arrested for transporting 5 kg of drugs at Moc Bai
	Seizing 7 kg meth from inside luggage of passenger coming from Cambodia to Vietnam
	Tay Ninh: An intercity bus with reinforced shell in the air conditioner for hiding 350 packs of smuggled cigarettes

The number of passengers entering through Moc Bai border gate isincreasing as the Lunar New Year approaches. Photo: T.D

Procedures facilitated

Deputy Manager of Moc Bai border gate Customs Branch, Nguyen Van Cuong, said that there were about 40 enterprises and 400-500 means of transport carrying out customs procedures at Moc Bai border gate per day on average, and even more than 600 means of transport in the holidays and Lunar New Year. Thus, Customs officers at Moc Bai border gate start work at 6amand finish at 10pm. Customs officers take just 15 minutes for lunch due to the huge workload and lack ofhuman resources. Officers at Moc Bai customs branch are also not taking time off at weekends, instead theytake turns having a day off in the week to ensure work performance.

Unlike in the past, groups of tourists and containers no longer have to wait in line for procedures through the border. The border gate area has been expanded. At the customs clearance channel, there are four to five gates arranged with customs officers to conductprocedures for passengers, instead of the two gates as before.

There are about 5,500 passengers on entry and exit passing through Moc Bai border gate everyday,so the gate is bustling from early morning. Especially at the end of the year and the beginning of the New Year, the number of tourists passing Moc Bai border gate increases significantly. Despite a large number of passengers on entry and exit, customs procedures are handled quickly without congestion.

Mr. Sen Bun Nara, a Cambodian passenger who has just completed customs procedures to enter Vietnam, said: “Previously, on the occasion of the New Year, the number of tourists passing Moc Bai border gate was very high, soit took long time to complete theimmigration procedures, but in recent years, customs clearance at Moc Bai international border gate has been very quick. In addition, during the entry process, proceduresfor screening have been also guided by customs officers.”

Many large drug trafficking cases prevented

Moc Bai is the largest international border gate in the southern region, with high daily traffic volume of goods, passengers and vehicles. At the same time, the Cambodian side is 500 meters from Moc Bai border gate and has many casinos and dance halls operating day and night. These are favorable conditions for trafficking and use of narcotics. At Moc Bai border gate Customs Branch, the number of customs officers is modest and tools for goods inspection are not sufficient.

Despite these difficulties, the branch has tried to arrange civil servants who are experienced at key stages and apply risk management measures and operations to both facilitate import and export activities and performstate management on customs. From the beginning of 2019, the unit detected more than 110 cases of violation with infringing goods estimated at nearly VND 7 billion, includingmore than 70 cases of procedural violations, 40 cases of smuggling and illegal transportation of fruit across the border, especially large cases of drug trafficking from Cambodia into Vietnam, with more than 20kg of methamphetamine.

On December 16, 2019, screening goods and luggage of passengers on entry, the Customs force seized two loudspeakers containing 4kg of synthetic drugs and five criminals, including one Nigerian in the drug transport gangfrom Cambodia to Vietnam.

Goods across Moc Bai border gate under the transit declaration account for 80 percent, in addition to compliantenterprises, there are some enterprises abusing legal policies and risk management policies to make inaccurate declarations of name, quantity and value of goods for fraud or smuggling. In addition, trade fraud, counterfeiting of origin and counterfeit trademarks are also putting pressure on customs officers in performing the task of goods supervision.

Recently, the unit has applied customs enforcement measures, in which performing information collection and investigation to grasp the situation and identify suspicious signs. For high-value and high tax rate goods,the unit often exchanges information with other customs units to monitor. In 2019, the unit discovered three cases of violations related to goods in transit with goods value of several hundred million dong.

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In the near future, in addition to the implementation of the inspection and supervision process of import and export goods and passengers on entry and exit, combat against smuggling and trade fraud; anti-drugs and prevention ofillegal cross-border transportation of goods and currencies, leaders of Moc Bai International Border Gate Customs Branch said the unit would continue to promote skills training, improve quality for civil servants; while strengthening discipline and the code of conduct in public service performance and building of a modern unit.