Vietnam Customs promotes cooperation in international law enforcement

Vietnam Customs affirms position in digital transformation of World Customs

Deputy Director General of Vietnam Customs Luu Manh Tuong has a working session with Ryan McKean - Director of the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL) at the U.S. Embassy in Hanoi. Photo: H.N

In recent years, INL has expanded its cooperation with Vietnam Customs by assisting within the framework of the Container Control Programme of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the UNODC Global Maritime Crime Programme (GMCP), and the Global Rapid Interdiction of Dangerous Substances (GRIDS) Programme with the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB).

In September 2022, INL proposed to cooperate directly with Vietnam Customs by assisting with technical training to improve the capacity for maritime law enforcement officers of the Anti-smuggling and Investigation Department.

Accordingly, from September 2022 to the present, INL has supported Vietnam Customs to conduct nine training courses on maritime law enforcement with the participation of 154 officers. The content of training courses has mainly focused on inspection skills on vessels for enforcement officers, and training in techniques, logistics, and administration for officers performing in these works.

At the working session, Deputy Director General Luu Manh Tuong said that Vietnam's marine economy has achieved strong growth in recent years. The annual growth rate of turnover is from 8-10%. In 2022 alone, the turnover hit over US$700 billion. Despite the rapid growth in turnover, it also poses many challenges for Vietnam Customs in facilitating trade activities and controlling and enforcing specialized laws for imports and exports.

Vietnam Customs faces many new methods of goods trafficking, tricks, and cross-border smuggling of international organizations, especially banned goods such as drugs, and goods listed in the CITES.

Over the past time, motivated by the support of INL in equipment and training to improve the capacity of officers performing this work, Vietnam Customs has developed specialized projects related to foreign crime rings. Therefore, Vietnam Customs will cooperate with other countries and international organizations to improve crime prevention capacity. Vietnam Customs also wishes to receive cooperation from INL to strictly control offenses in trade activities with countries around the world.

In addition to direct cooperation activities with Vietnam Customs, INL is one of the financial partners in the framework of programs participated by Vietnam. In 2021, INL funded a sub-project worth US$ 400,000 to Vietnam Customs within the framework of the UNODC Container Control Program by assisting the supportive equipment for customs control of Port Control Units (PCUs) such as Hazmat ID and TRUNARC for identification of suspected drugs, and the XyloTron machine used for identification of wood species, and organizing training courses to instruct PCUs in using the equipment at the UN Laboratory in Austria.

According to Mr. Ryan McKean, the cooperation between the two sides has improved since the visit of the leader of Vietnam Customs. Therefore, INL wishes to further strengthen the anti-smuggling and trade fraud between the two sides.

Mr. Ryan McKean said that high-tech and drug crimes and law enforcement pose common global challenges. Multinational criminal groups take advantage of seaports to commit fraud and smuggle banned items such as drugs, wild animals, wood…

Meanwhile, Customs is in charge of control and law enforcement in commercial activities. Notably, the country increasingly grows and achieves soar in turnover, especially the turnover for wood with the US market. Therefore, INL wishes to strengthen cooperation with Vietnam Customs to promote further anti-drug activities and international law enforcement in the near future.