Total of 17,321 cases of Customs violations in 2019

Heroin was seized on November 3, 2019 in HCM City. Photo: Lê Thu

According to the latest information from the Anti-Smuggling and Investigation Department (General Department of Vietnam Customs) in 2019, the whole customs sector detected and handled 17,321 cases of violations, an increase of 4.14 percent compared to 2018. The total value of violating goods was over VND 3,035 billion, increasing by 78.29 percent.

In particular, the Customs authority prosecuted 51 criminal cases; transferring the competent authorities to petition to prosecute 164 cases.

The fields which have many big incidents were discovered and handled by Customs authority in 2019 relating to origin fraud, illegal transport and goods with images infringing sovereignty; drug crimes; illegal transport of rare animals across the country on a large scale.

Remarkably, in the fight against drug crimes, 2019 is considered the year that the Customs authority involved in closing many transnational drug cases with the largest amount of exhibits, of that hundreds of kilograms of drugs was seized.

Most recently, on November 3, 2019, the Anti-Smuggling and Investigation Department co-chaired with C04 to coordinate with competent units on November 3, 2019, simultaneously searching five locations suspected of hiding drugs in suburban areas of HCM City. In particular, searching the warehouse located at A5/147E Lang Le Bau Co Street, Hamlet 1, Tan Nhut Commune, Binh Chanh District, Ho Chi Minh City, the competent force seized a total of 446 packs of heroin. The case was led by Taiwanese suspects (China).

Also, on March 20, 2019, in Ho Chi Minh City, the Customs force participated to successfully close the case and seize 300 kg of meth and at the same time, quickly reviewed and determined a shipment of 276 kg of meth which had left Vietnamese territory and agreed to provide information to Philippine authorities in order to promptly arrest in the meeting of the specialized committee.

On May 11, 2019, Ho Chi Minh City Customs Department and C04 co-chaired and coordinated with Unit 6 (Anti-Smuggling and Investigation Department, General Department of Vietnam Customs), the competent units detected and seized more than 500kg of Ketamine in Binh Chanh district (HCM City).