The cooperation between Customs and An Giang Border Defence achieves outstanding results

Deputy Director General of Vietnam Customs Luu Manh Tuong speaks at the conference. Photo: Châu Long

Strictly control border area

On the afternoon of September 25, 2024, Deputy Director General of Vietnam Customs, Luu Manh Tuong, and Major General Le Van Phuc, Deputy Commander of the Border Guard Command, chaired a meeting to review and evaluate the results of cooperation in implementing tasks between Customs and the Border Guard in accordance with Cooperation Regulation No. 3929/QC-BĐBP-TCHQ dated September 4, 2019, between the Border Guard Command and the General Department of Vietnam Customs in An Giang.

Reporting on the evaluation of the cooperation between the An Giang Customs Department and the An Giang Border Guard Command over the past 5 years, Colonel Nguyen Hong Khiem, Deputy Chief of Professional Technique of the An Giang Border Guard, said that with a border of nearly 100 km, the management area of the two forces is vast; in particular, Cambodia still has illegal warehouses, casinos, and cockfighting arenas; criminal activities such as drugs, smuggling, and illegal entry and exit have become increasingly complex, with many sophisticated methods.

The working group inspects the coordination work at Khanh Binh-An Giang border gate. Photo: T.H

Along the border, smuggled goods are stockpiled on the Cambodian side, and subjects take advantage of the riverine terrain and dense canals to transport goods by small boats and then store them in warehouses at various locations before transporting them deep into the interior for consumption. "This has increased the complexity and difficulty in ensuring political security, social order, and preventing and combating various crimes in the border and border gate areas," emphasized Colonel Nguyen Hong Khiem.

Faced with this situation, based on the actual situation, the two forces have regularly concretized and effectively implemented the contents of the Cooperation Plan to improve the quality of patrol, control, arrest, and handling of smuggling and illegal transportation of goods across the border.

According to the plan, the Customs Branches at border gates and Border Posts have coordinated to strictly inspect and control means of transport entering and exiting the country, the luggage of entering and exiting passengers, and imported and exported goods, always ensuring the inspection and control of activities at border gates in accordance with the law.

As a result, the coordinated inspection, control, and use of professional measures, technical equipment, and modern technology cameras at border gates have been tightened, thereby detecting many cases of smuggling and trade fraud, enhancing the effectiveness of management.

Over the past 5 years, the two forces have coordinated to inspect and control more than 4.5 million vehicles entering and exiting An Giang border gates. Thanks to that, security and order in the border and border gate areas have been maintained, and violations have been minimized. At the same time, the two forces have coordinated to patrol and control 4,071 times; thereby, jointly arresting 88 cases related to smuggling and illegal transportation of goods, with 43 subjects, with a total value of goods of over VND22 billion, US$20,000, and 17 kg of firecrackers.

Implement the 7 contents of the coordination regulations

At the conference, based on the suggestions of Major General Le Van Phuc and Deputy Director General Luu Manh Tuong regarding the 7 provisions of Cooperation Regulation No. 3929/QC-BĐBP-TCHQ, the two forces discussed and highlighted the advantages and difficulties in cooperation at border gates; as well as some recommendations from each border gate.

Among them, the cooperation in communication and information exchange is sometimes slow, mainly exchanging superficial information, and the content of the exchange does not meet the requirements of cooperation; although the two forces have cooperated to seize a number of cases of smuggling and prohibited goods, there are not many; most are small, isolated cases without owners, and have not detected or hit many ringleaders who stockpile smuggled goods or large-scale smuggling organizations.

Notably, most of An Giang's border gates have not been invested in wharves, equipped with tools, and vehicles for loading, unloading, and inspecting goods. Therefore, there is a risk of leakage and inability to control goods that are smuggled right through the main border gates. The infrastructure at some border gate areas has deteriorated, such as the Tinh Bien international border gate and the Bac Dai auxiliary border gate, and the working environment does not meet the nature of border gate operations and does not meet the requirements for developing and expanding exchange activities in international integration.

The working group inspected the Khanh Binh border gate. Photo: Chau Long

According to the assessment of the leaders of the two units, the management area is wide, the terrain in the border and border gate areas is complex with many trails, canals, and rivers shared by the two countries. The anti-smuggling forces of the two forces are still thin and often concurrently other specialized jobs, so patrolling, controlling, preventing, and arresting smuggling and illegal transportation of goods across the border face many difficulties, which partly directly affects the effectiveness of cooperation.

Therefore, the two forces proposed allocating additional equipment and vehicles to serve the inspection and control work at border gates: such as equipment for inspecting road vehicles, large-capacity boats on rivers... to ensure safety during the rainy season, storms, and typhoons.

At the same time, they proposed that the People's Committee of An Giang Province and the Border Gate Economic Zone Authority pay attention to investing in and building centralized wharves for storing and inspecting goods, meeting the actual situation in the border gate areas of An Giang province.

Concluding the conference, Major General Len Van Phuc and Deputy Director General Luu Manh Tuong commended the results achieved by the two forces in cooperation; at the same time, requested the two forces to further strengthen cooperation activities through regular information exchange, control...; in particular, cooperation in training and workshops needs to be carried out more to improve professional skills; pay attention to advising the superiors on legal documents suitable to the actual situation... Thereby, to perfect the institution, contributing to detecting, fighting, preventing, and promptly handling violations of the law, at the same time, creating favorable conditions for cross-border traffic activities; contributing to managing and firmly protecting national sovereignty and border security, and strengthening the expansion of foreign relations and international integration of An Giang province.