Squadron 3, Anti-smuggling and Investigation Department: Proactively control and prevent smuggling of gasoline, oil and drugs at sea

	Potential risk of smuggling in Quang Ninh border
	General Department of Vietnam Customs and the Command of Border Guard inspect the cooperation work in Quang Ninh

The 3rd Squadron prepares to patrol and control the area. Photo: T.H

Coordinate to detect and prevent many major incidents

We arrived at Squadron 3 at the exact moment when a working group of the unit had just returned from a more than one-week patrol in the waters of Con Dao. Sharing with us, Squadron 3 Captain Hoang Van Thao said that the unit was assigned to manage and control the area in the southern sea from Binh Thuan to the entire sea area of ​​Kien Giang province, the river and channel areas leading to international seaports. With a large management area, depending on the area and situation, the unit will send working groups to patrol and control each specific sea area. By proactively grasping the situation, in the past time, Squadron 3 has coordinated to detect and prevent many cases of illegal transportation of gasoline and oil at sea.

On May 27, 2024, during patrol and control in Nha Be River area - Ho Chi Minh City, Squadron 3 discovered a barge belonging to G. Fuel Supply and Transport Company Limited supplying DO oil to a cargo ship with an order quantity of 24,000 liters. During the process of supplying and receiving goods, the cargo ship did not provide information to the Customs authority. Previously, on May 15, 2024, in the sea area about 120 nautical miles southeast of Con Dao, Squadron 3 and the Command of Coast Guard Region 3, together with the working group of Reconnaissance Group No. 2, the Command of Coast Guard coordinated to patrol, detect and arrest the ship BT-99900-TS transporting 90,000 liters of DO oil. At the time of inspection, the captain could not present invoices and documents proving the legal origin of this oil.

According to Squadron Captain Hoang Van Thao, the methods of smuggling gasoline are very sophisticated. The ringleaders often do not directly carry out the smuggling but indirectly direct it through the captain, the person escorting the goods or establishing an intermediary company; buy gasoline at sea, then anchor in the border waters and then take advantage of the night or when the authorities hand over shifts to transfer it to small ships to shore. In particular, to deal with the authorities, the subjects prepare documents in advance so that when discovered, they can present them to the authorities for legalization, etc.

In the past time, Squadron 3 has proactively coordinated with the Coast Guard to conduct patrols and controls, has detected and prevented many cases of illegal transportation of gasoline at sea. At the end of 2023, the Southern Sea Control Squadron (Squadron 3) and Reconnaissance Group No. 2 - Coast Guard Command arrested the ship ST 01727 TS transporting over 32,000 liters of DO oil, without documents proving legal origin, in an area about 18 nautical miles southeast of Con Dao (Ba Ria - Vung Tau). The incident was discovered when the two forces implemented a plan to coordinate to strengthen the fight against petroleum smuggling at sea. Previously, on August 31, 2023, while patrolling the sea area of ​​Tien Giang province, Border Guard Squadron 18 presided over and coordinated with Squadron 3 to detect and arrest the ship ND 95368 transporting about 50,000 liters of DO oil, without documents proving legal origin.

Strengthen control of the area

According to the assessment of the leader of Squadron 3, the unit manages a large and long area, the situation of smuggling activities at sea and on rivers is complicated and difficult, which has affected the implementation of the unit's tasks. From the information collected, at the same time through customs operations, it can be seen that the situation of smuggling across the border on the sea route and inland waters is ongoing and difficult to control. The subjects carry out smuggling acts under many different methods and tricks. The time of committing violations is quick, often taking place at night, making it very difficult to deploy customs control measures to arrest.

In particular, when ships anchored in the middle of the river to load and unload goods on rivers, crew members took advantage of the darkness and rugged terrain of rivers and canals to bring undeclared goods to high-speed boats and small boats, then ran into small canals and ditches to disperse and infiltrate the domestic market, etc. Along with that, the subjects prepared modern means of communication to monitor all movements of the authorities, notify each other to avoid encountering the authorities or pretend to be fishing boats to carry out acts of smuggling gasoline.

In response to the above developments, Squadron 3 has developed a plan to regularly control the area to detect and prevent violations. The unit has discovered many cases of subjects disguising very sophisticated aquatic logistics service vessels to deceive the authorities. Squadron 3 discovered and seized aquatic logistics service vessels illegally transporting 270 tons of oil without legal invoices and documents.

Fighting smuggling on land is difficult, doing this work at sea is even more difficult. Not only facing seasickness when the sea is rough, the wind is strong, many patrols and pursuits to catch ships carrying illegal goods are also very dangerous when the violators do not comply with the orders of the Customs force, deliberately speed up, drive in circles, and in some cases even block the Customs ship to hinder the pursuit. There were cases where, in response to the stubborn resistance of the subjects, in order to catch the smuggled oil on the ship, Squadron 3 was forced to fire warning shots into the air. In addition, Squadron 3 also coordinated with Southern Customs units, especially the Western Customs to inspect and control cargo ships and discovered a number of violations. Typically, at the end of March 2024, Squadron 3 and Vinh Xuong Border Gate Customs Branch (An Giang Customs Department) coordinated to inspect a barge carrying sand from Cambodia to Vietnam via Tien River, discovering that the barge of H.M. Investment and Development Joint Stock Company was carrying imported sand exceeding the declared volume on the customs declaration by nearly 53 m3 of sand; coordinated with functional forces to detect and arrest a number of cases of illegal storage and transportation of drugs, etc.

With the assessment that in addition to the complicated situation of gasoline smuggling, in the last months of the year, subjects will take advantage of smuggling a number of essential goods for holidays and Tet, Squadron 3 has developed a plan to fight at a peak in the last months of 2024 to control and promptly prevent violations.