VCN – In addition to busting smuggling and illegal cross-border transportation of goods, the Northern Anti-Smuggling Enforcement Unit (Unit 1) under the General Department of Vietnam Customs (GDVC) has focused on handling offenses.
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Officers of Unit 1 inspect infringing goods in the case of smuggling of over 65,000 test kits on March 17 and 18, 2022. |
Speaking to Customs News, a representative of Unit 1 said that the smuggling and trade fraud in the first months of 2022 is still complicated in key areas, land, air and sea routes. The smuggled goods mainly are consumer goods, household appliances, cosmetics and alcohol.
Unit 1 has drastically taken custom control measures to promptly detect and handle violations. From the beginning of the year to the second half of May, Unit 1 has handled dozens of violations, including products listed in the CITES, banned goods and medical equipment for epidemic prevention and control with large quantities.
Notably, the unit has mobilized human resources and coordinated with relevant agencies to handle violations. Therefore, in the second half of May, the unit’s revenue reached over VND64 billion, meeting 915.26% compared with the target of 2022.
In addition, four cases investigated by the unit were prosecuted by the Anti-Smuggling and Investigation Department, meeting 100% compared with the target in 2022.
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350kg of seahorses seized by Unit 1 and Hai Phong Customs on March 30 and 31, 2022. |
It is forecast that in the near future, the smuggling and illegal transportation of goods across the border, trade fraud, tax evasion in the area still see development with sophisticated tricks.
In order to effectively prevent such acts, the unit has focused on seizing banned goods and goods affecting security and order, social safety, and handling origin fraud. It has also closely controlled shipments transferred from border, port and consignments temporarily imported for export, especially consumer goods and goods smuggled into the domestic market.
The Unit continues to strengthen the collection of information and grasping situations to handle cases of taking advantage of the Covid-19 pandemic to smuggle medicine, medical equipment and biological products for epidemic prevention and control.
The unit has also focused on inspecting and combating acts of abusing policies and procedures for refusal of goods receipt and re-export for smuggling; strengthened the fight against smuggling, trade fraud and fake goods in e-commerce activities.
Amid the Covid-19 pandemic, the Unit is one of the leading units of the Customs sector in combating smuggling and illegal transportation of medicine for Covid treatment and kit tests. The two cases of test kits seized by Unit 1 is one of the largest violations this year. On February 17, unit 1 coordinated with units of Hanoi Customs Department to inspect a shipment of Covid-19 test kits showing signs of customs violations. The shipment was transported from Korea to Noi Bai International Airport, Hanoi. The unit detected more than 85,000 Covid-19 test kits originating from South Korea, worth over VND8 billion. On March 17 and 18, Unit 1 collaborated with Noi Bai Customs Branch and Customs Enforcement Team (under Hanoi Customs Department) to inspect the shipment transported from the Czech Republic and transited in Turkey to Noi Bai International Airport Border Gate. The competent forces detected and seized 65,400 test kits. |
By Thai Binh/Ngoc Loan