Tricks smuggling via road, sea and air

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Secondhand clocks on the list of prohibited imports in the case detected by Team 1 (Anti-smuggling Investigation Department) in collaboration with Hai Phong Customs in May 2020. Photo: T. Binh.

Diversity of smuggling at sea

From the overall assessment of anti-smuggling activities in the first months bythe Customs sector, the maritime route is still the area with the most violations.

The representative of the Anti-Smuggling Investigation Department (General Department of Customs) said that the main violation at sea is the wrong declaration of goods name, tax code, origin, quantity, quality and value; repairing, forging documents, arbitrarily consuming goods while waiting for issuance of inspection certificates of specialized inspection agencies, documents andmanifest adjustment.

On the other hand, there are cases which regular check-ins are often registered on the peak time; "Choose green channel, yellow channel" to clear goods by entrusting enterprises that have not been found to be in violation, borrowing the name of investment and processing companies that previously complied with customs laws to process them.

If the consignment is classified into the red channel by the system, the ownerdoes not come to receive the goods but leaves the declaration, then changes the receiving enterprise and the branch to change procedures, continues to open a new declaration to be allocated to the green channel.

Notably, when the Customs discovered that the goods were banned, the enterprise refused to receive or abandon the goods.

Other tricks are taking advantage of the form of "transit", "transshipment", "temporary import for re-export" to smuggle goods, carry out transit procedures to transport goods out of ports and then put them into consumption inland; set up fakebusinesses for customs clearance.

Commodities on the sea routes are also very diverse, from cosmetics; foreign wine; old and new phones; electronics refrigeration,to goods infringing intellectual property;flora and fauna on the CITES list; used machinery chains; scrap iron; steel.

The key areas to focus on Hai Phong, Quang Ninh, Ho Chi Minh City, Da Nang and Ba Ria-Vung Tau ports.

Taking advantage of activities of temporary import for re-export and transit

On the road, in the first months of the year due to the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, so there were not many prominent incidents.

However, the suspectsstill take advantage of the loopholes in the inspection and control of relevant forces; taking advantage of complicated terrain, trails, openings, border rivers and canals to hire thousands of small goods to be divided and carried across borders irregularly, arranging people to watch the border andactivities of competent forces to transport smuggled goods inland for consumption.

Notably, some businesses take advantage of the methods of temporary import - re-export, transit, transit on roads to smuggle inland.

"Through the inspection of transit declarations, a number of violations were found such as fraudulently exchanging goods in containers, declaring improperly with transported goods, intestinal transporting cargoes," a representative of the department of anti-smuggling investigation said.

The "hot" routes related to the above-mentioned violation is the transport of goods from Ho Chi Minh City to Cambodia via the border gates of southwestern provinces; the route from Hai Phong to China via the routes of Quang Ninh, Lang Son, Cao Bang, Lao Cai and Dien Bien; the route from HuuNghi border gate (Lang Son) to Laos and Cambodia through the border gates of the Central provinces and the Central Highlands; air routes from Noi Bai airport and Tan Son Nhatairport.

Violating goods related to road routes are of various types, focusing on banned goods, drugs, temporarily imported goods for re-export, consumer goods, liquor, beer, cigarettes, poultry, timber, ores,scrap, groceries, medical masks and medical devices for the prevention of the Covid-19 pandemic,in which, many items must pay high tax rates.

In the Southwest region, the cigarette smuggling activities, there is a change in size, tricks, haveappeared more small cases, the subjects sent people on guard, if the competent force is available, they will leave the smuggled goods.

For air routes, post offices, the typical violation is to hide goods in luggage carried on entry; they do not directly do it, but hire a carrier instead; camouflage, multi-layer foil wrap in luggage, consignment, postal items, parcels or reinforcement of double-bottom suitcases, notebook covers, in food, electronic devices to hide banned goods; mix drugs into liquids, thick and then put them into the lining of suitcases and towels.

Violating goods in the air and post routes are mainly related to drugs, brand name items, phones, foreign currencies, watches, cosmetics and functional foods.