Vietnam Customs shares experience in combating drugs with Thai delegation

	President’s trip to Thailand expected to promote multilateral diplomacy
	Vietnam, Thailand eye bright cooperation prospects in all fields: Thai Ambassador

The Thai delegation learn about drug prevention across Cat Lai port.

The meeting was attended by Mr Wichai Chaimongkhon, Secretary General of the Anti-drug Enforcement Commission of Thailand, and 10 representatives of the Commission.

On the Vietnam side, Mr Hoang Tam Hieu, Deputy Director of the Investigation Police Department on Drug-related Crimes (C04 -Ministry of Public Security), Mr Nguyen Van On, Deputy Director of the Anti-smuggling and Investigation Department under the General Department of Vietnam Customs, Mr Phan Minh Le, Deputy Director of HCM City Customs Department and leaders of Zone 1st Sai Gon Seaport Customs Branch, Anti-drug Enforcement Team under HCM City Customs Department, Southern Anti-drug Enforcement Division under the Anti-smuggling and Investigation Departmenthave attended the meeting.

Deputy Manager of Zone 1st Sai Gon Seaport Customs Branch Do The Manh said that the volume of goods across the seaport accounts for 50% of the country's volume. The volume of goods across Cat Lai Port increases by about 10,000 Tues.

To clear the huge volume of goods, the General Department of Vietnam Customs has equipped many tools to inspect and control banned goods and drugs.

The branch has detected many large smuggling cases, such as ivory hidden inside large wooden blocks,drugs hidden inside imported wooden pallets or drugs hidden inside exported stone blocks.

"To achieve the result, in addition to the great effort in improving inspection and supervision and information collection skills, there needs the coordination of relevant forces as well as an information exchange of international organizations…"- Mr Do The Manh said.

HCM City Customs Department shares experience with the Thai delegation. Photo: T.H

Deputy Director of C04 Hoang Tam Hieu said four specialized drug prevention and cotrol forces in Vietnam: Customs, Border Guard, Coast Guard and Anti-drug Enforcement. The information exchange for detecting drugs plays an important role. Cat Lai Port is the largest freight forwarding centrein Vietnam.Vietnam's enforcement forcehopes that Thai enforcement agencies will provide information about the imports and export shippedfrom Vietnam containing drugs.

June is the anti-drug action month in Vietnam, and specialized units have focused on this task. Vietnam's senior leaders and units have drastically combated drug-related crimes and preventedVietnam from becoming a transit place for drugs fromother countries.

At the meeting, the delegates also said that the tricks of drug hiding are increasingly sophisticated through detected drug cases. The enforcement forces face difficulties detecting the tricks, even by conducting physical inspections or using technical equipment.

Delegates take photo.

The detection of drug transport activities mainly results from the information organizations provide. Therefore, Vietnam's enforcement agencies hope to share experiences and information from other countries, including Thailand, to respond to this situation.

Deputy Director of the Anti-smuggling and Investigation Department Nguyen Van On said that the goods were exported across Cat Lai Port to other countries and imported from other countries to Vietnam, including Thailand. Vietnam does not have borderline adjacent to Thailand, so drug traffickers transport goods by sea and air.

Vietnam Customs has anti-smuggling from the central to local levels and has been equipped with modern technical devices for controlling drugs and precursors, including scanners, drug detectorsand drug-sniffing dogs.

More than 31 kg of cocaine was discovered by Customs in the shipment imported across Cat Lai port in 2015. Photo: T.H

However, international information channels play an important role in combating smuggling and drugs. Vietnam shares information with international organizations on anti-drug and implements the arrests effectively. Vietnam Customs looks forward to receiving information from Thailand on suspects, tricks and suspected enterprises.

"Drug traffickers often mix drugs in the goods, so the information sharing between Thailand and Vietnam Customs is critical;Vietnam Customs hopes to receive information from Thai Customs to improve the efficiency of drug prevention and control",said the Deputy Director.

Deputy Director of HCM City Customs Department Phan Minh Le said that the detected drug cases by sea are much less than those transported by air and post. However, the tricks are sophisticated. Forexample, Customs detected over 31.5 kg of cocaine hidden insidethe wooden pallets on May 15. The Deputy Director said the suspects used sophisticated methods to hide cocaine in goods. If the Customs did not detect it, the drugs would be transported to athird country.

Secretary General Wichai Chaimongkhon thanked for sharingexperiences in drug prevention from Vietnam'sspecialized units and believed that Thailand would cooperate and share information with Vietnamese authorities in drug prevention.