Scrap across the southwestern border is forecasted to be complicated

Iron scrap is gathering on the Cambodia border waiting for opportunities to be transported into Vietnam.

The gate is empty of scrap

Since the beginning of the year to now, only the Dinh Ba (Dong Thap) and Tinh Bien (An Giang) border gates have received imported scrap. The tax revenue from imported scrap accounts for a high proportion of about 40% of the total revenue of these sub-departments. Under the Directive 27/CT-TTg, since October 1, 2018, land border gates will grant import procedures for scrap materials.

Mr. Dang Van Tien, Head of Customs Department of Dinh Ba border gate (Dong Thap Customs Department) said that the Sub-Department has informed the local enterprises of this regulation and asked enterprises not to make import scrap declarations from October 1, and the businesses have strictly obeyed.

From the beginning of this year at the border gates in Long An, imported scrap does not occur, so there is no stagnation of imported scrap at the border gates.

Mr. Le Nam Quoc, Deputy Director of Long An Customs Department, said that although there is no smuggling or illegal transportation in the area of customs operation, under the implementation of the Prime Minister's Directive No. 27/CT-TTg and the General Department of Customs’ direction, the Long An Customs Department has requested the Customs Control Team and Customs branches to implement professional measures to review information, objects as well as coordinate to effectively control imported scrap across Long An borders.

Smuggling scrap is predicted to be complicated

According to a reporter at midday on September 29, across the Cambodian border from Hung Dien A Commune, Vinh Hung District, Long An province, a large volume of steel scrap is being picked up by a crane to load on a lighter on Cai Co River. Nearby, trucks are lined up, waiting for transportation to the borders of Vietnam.

At some points there are cars to transit scrap to the borders of Vietnam and some heavy trucks filled with scraps waiting to be delivered overnight to inland. A resident in this area said that about 3-4 large trucks (heavy trucks with a tonnage of 30-40 tons) were transporting scrap from these points to inland. Not only transporting at night, the smuggled goods including iron, steel, paper, rags... also loaded onto small trucks, are camouflaged to move inland during the day. On the way of transportation, these vehicles are in tight formation.

According to information from the functional forces of Long An province, scrap transportation activities in the border area of Long An recently increased and more open than the past. In the Vinh Hung border district, scrap was gathered near the Cambodian border, then transported down lighters along canal 28 to the inland or transported by heavy trucks from Cambodia to the Vietnamese border, then loaded to cars and wait until night to transport for the domestic consumption. Currently, the movement of scrap from the border area of Vinh Hung to the inland is very difficult to control because the vehicles are carefully camouflaged for hiding from the inspection force.

There are also road watchers, these vehicles are often driven at high speed and the occupants are ready to fight if being detected, so it is difficult to detect and handle. It is worth noting that there are also many vehicles carrying scrap and waste containing wood, refrigerated goods, electronics and used machinery inside...

Recently, the Special Task Force on Drug Prevention and Crime of the South coordinated with the My Quy Tay Border Guard Station (Long An) to organize an ambush and detected three cars illegally transporting goods from Cambodia to Vietnam in Hamlet 3, My Quy Tay Commune, Duc Hue District, Long An Province. Of the three cars carrying illegal goods, the car with license plate 51C-81413 was driven by Duong Hoai Khanh (born in 1983), residing at the address above, transporting about 12 tons of scrap cotton paper.

A car with license plate 70C-04749 was driven by Tran Thanh Hieu (born in 1989), resident in hamlet 6, My Thanh Dong commune, Duc Hue district, Long An province, transporting about 19.92 tons of plastic waste seed bags. The last one with license plate 51C-65092 was driven by Nguyen Van Cuong (born in 1993), located in Tan Xuan hamlet, Tan Phu commune, Tan Chau district, Tay Ninh province, transporting 5 tons of wood chips.

Earlier, in July 2018, Police in Kien Tuong town (Long An province) arrested a truck owned by Pham Van Phiêm (35 years old, Thanh Dong A commune, Tan Hiep district, Kien Giang province), transporting 4 tons of scrap plastic; 3 tons of aluminum scrap (solid); 1 ton of rags, carpet...

Due to the high demand for scrap in the country, smuggling and illegal cross-border trafficking is still occurring and it is predicted that there will be complicated developments in the near future when all the border gates along the southwest border have not made import procedures since October 1.