Trafficking of drugs remains a serious problem

	Record increase in seized synthetic drugs
	Nghe An Customs seized 60,000 tablets of synthetic drugs and 2kg of crystal meth
	Prevention of illegal drugs in Dien Bien faces challenges

Ecstasy seized by Ho Chi Minh City customs forces (on January 29, 2019).

Concealed drugs

Due to the strict control by relevant forces at the airport, the number of drugs transported by air (including airport, post office, and express delivery) is not as high as the cross-border transport cases by road and waterway.However, with sophisticated methods of concealment, control and detection are difficult.

Recently, Ho Chi Minh City Customs forces detected and seizedillegal marijuana transported from the US and Canada, as well asMDMA (ecstasy) in large quantities from some European countries in the form of non-commercial gifts via air, post and express delivery into Vietnam and illegal methamphetamine to Hong Kong. In addition, through investigation, it has been discoveredthat criminals with foreign elements take advantage of aviation routes to illegally transport narcotics from abroad into Vietnam, partly for domestic use orto transfer to a third country.

In the first six months of 2019, the anti-smuggling and handling of violations at the Customs Branch of Tan Son Nhat International Airport achieved many remarkable results. The unit issued a decision to sanction 113 violations with avalue of over VND52 billion. The department also transferred the file to the Department level 4 of violations. In particular, on March 5, 2019, when carrying out procedures for over-the-counter non-commercial individual shipments to Hong Kong, through inspection bymachine, the Procedure Team For Export Goods, Customs Department of Tan Son Nhat International Airport, detected and seized more than 6kg of drugs packed in ahigh pressure washing machine shell.

Recently, in four consecutively imported lots of gifts including confectionery and clothes, the Customs Department of Tan Son Nhat International Airport and relevant forces discovered and seized4.6kg of marijuana.

Illegally imported cannabis seized Tan Son Nhat International Airport Sub-Department on January 2, 2019. Photo: Thu Hoa.

Difficulties in handling

According to the customs force of Tan Son Nhat airport, in terms of concealed drugs, if staff are not vigilantit will be difficult to detect illegal shipments.

Meanwhile, criminalstake advantage of policies to facilitate import and export and immigration, especially in the implementation of customs procedures and electronic clearance for goods, import-export parcels and parcels to transport drugs with commonly used methods and tricks such as hiding drugs in imported goods and luggage. Due to the sophisticated tricks, it caused great difficulties for drug inspection and control of the Customs.

Circular No. 49/2015 / QD-BTC dated April 14, 2015 of the Ministry of Finance prescribed customs procedures for lettersand packages of export and imported goods sent by postal networks provided by enterprises. Accordingly, enterprises shall act on behalf of goods owners to carry out customs procedures. This makes it difficult to fight drug criminals because it is impossible to catch the owner of the shipment. There are no regulations on controlled delivery methods to catch drugs, especially giftswith recipient addresses in provinces outside HCMCity.

Although facing many difficulties, the Customs Department of Tan Son Nhat International Airport has fully implemented specialized plans on customs supervision and control and drug prevention control;organizing patrols, supervision and grasping the situation.At the same time actively coordinating between relevant teams and agencies in preventing acts of violating customs laws in the locality,implementing plans to prevent smuggling and illegal transportation of drugs on key routes. Strengthening vigilance for goods carrying out e-customs procedures, paying special attention to goods belonging to the Green channel declaration and exempted goods.