Tan Son Nhat airport customs combats smuggling at year-end peak season

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Tan Son Nhat International Airport Customs officers check luggage of incoming passengers. Photo: T.D

Detecting more than 300 violations

The situation of smuggling and trade fraud through Tan Son Nhat international airport border gate has been continuously increasing with many big seizures of illegal transportation of drugs, phones, ivory.

According to Tan Son Nhat International Airport Customs Branch, from the beginning of 2023 to November 10, 2023, the unit has coordinated with other authorities to seize 330 cases of trade fraud, smuggling and illegal transportation of drugs by air. Of which, there were 24 seizures of drugs of all kinds with nearly 67kg. The unit issued decisions to sanction 297 cases, transferred the Ho Chi Minh City Customs Department to to sanction two cases and transferred to the investigation agency seven cases. The total value of fines paid to the state budget is nearly VND2.5 billion.

Deputy Director of Tan Son Nhat International Airport Border Gate Customs Branch Nguyen Thanh Phu said that the smuggling and trade fraud continue to increase. Notably, the situation of illegal drug transport through Tan Son Nhat international airport has become very complicated with many extremely diverse and increasingly sophisticated tricks to evade inspection and control by the Customs.

The drug seizures by Tan Son Nhat International Airport Customs Branch show that domestic and foreign drug traffickers often collude closely with each other, forming transnational criminal organizations working extremely aggressively and recklessly. Drug criminals always carefully research and thoroughly take advantage of policies that create favorable conditions for businesses and passengers in import-export and immigration activities to hide and transport drugs such as: declaring wrong goods names, declaring goods classified into the Green channel system to hide drugs in goods with empty compartments such as machinery, loudspeakers, LED lights, cardboard, suitcases, double-bottomed suitcases; hiding drugs in cosmetics, shampoo, soap, candy, all kinds of food.

Typically, on November 6, when carrying out check-in procedures for passengers of Qatar Airways, departing from Doha to Vietnam through Tan Son Nhat international airport border gate, the Customs discovered abnormal signs for baggage of Ms. Mogotlwane Mmotseng Heriet, born in 1993, South African nationality, so the customs conducted an inspection. As a result, the customs identified that in the double-bottomed suitcase, there were multi-layered plastic packages containing cocaine drugs weighing more than 7.4 kg and a light yellow powder package of 1,740 grams. Tan Son Nhat International Airport Border Gate Customs Branch handed over the suspect and exhibits to the Ho Chi Minh City Drug Crime Investigation Police Department (PC04) for further handling.

Regarding illegal drug trafficking cases, previously, the authorities also discovered a case of four flight attendants carrying drugs from France to Vietnam. Authorities have expanded their investigation into related cases and have so far prosecuted 235 suspects.

In addition, the State management agencies have also discovered many tricks of smugglers, such as not re-exporting or re-importing goods on time as registered with the Customs; importing goods without a permit. For example, on November 6, 2023, the Customs Branch of Tan Son Nhat International Airport issued a penalty record against A.B Technology Co., Ltd. for the act of importing goods that must have an import permit but the company did not present an import permit. The infringing item is MAE01 solvent.

The peak of anti-smuggling at the end of the year

The situation of smuggling and trade fraud through airports is forecast to increase at the end of the year, posing a significant challenge for the authorities.

Faced with the above situation, to continue promoting the results of anti-smuggling and to be proactive in coordinating control work, Tan Son Nhat International Airport Border Gate Customs Branch has issued a peak plan to fight against smuggling, trade fraud, counterfeit goods, and illegal transportation of goods across borders before, during and after the Lunar New Year 2024.

Accordingly, along with the work of trade facilitation during the year-end peak, the unit has focuses on reviewing key items; taken appropriate control measures to effectively fight and detect customs administrative violations; strengthened the effectiveness of screening and focused screening of exported goods, and shifted to the physical inspection channel for shipments with suspicious sign exported to countries on high-risky routes of drugs.

Tan Son Nhat International Airport Customs Branch will proactively coordinate with the Customs Enforcement Team (Ho Chi Minh City Customs Department) and relevant forces to inspect and control export shipments to markets in the high-risk routes; warn on acts of transporting drugs and precursors in the form of non-commercial goods exported to some countries (in transit to Singapore), goods with fraudulent Vietnamese origin exported to the US and European markets...

In addition, the Branch also focuses on analyzing and evaluating cases of taking advantage of risk management to be exempt from physical inspection, taking advantage of electronic customs clearance, VNACCS/VCIS, to present fake documents in customs records; improve skills in the stages of receiving, checking declaration documents, checking taxable prices, and physical inspection of goods; strengthen information and profiling, and strictly control shipments transferred from border gates to express delivery and goods transported independently from Tan Son Nhat airport to other airports and vice versa.