[Viet] Officials fail to stub cigarette smuggling [from Cambodia]

September, 10 2010
VNS (Hanoi)

AN GIANG — Authorities in the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta province of An Giang say they are unable to clamp down on cigarette smuggling from Cambodia in the absence of detailed guidance for a new decree that makes it a criminal offence.

Decree 76, which came into effect on September 1, makes smuggling of 1,500 packs or more a crime and requires the case to be transferred to the prosecuting agency for filing charges.

Smugglers caught bringing in fewer than 1,500 packs will be fined up to VND100 million (US$5,200).

Earlier, the maximum penalty for smuggling was VND70 million.

However, Ho Thi Ngoc Huong, head of the province Criminal Investigation Police, said law enforcement agencies had not received guidance for the implementation of the decree.

Rampant

Daily, smugglers on motorbikes and on foot bring cigarettes over the border and through National Highway 91 between the province's Chau Doc and Long Xuyen.

But while in the past two partners in crime would each carry 1,000-1,500 packs at a time on the highway, an anti-smuggling official told Lao Dong (Labour) newspaper that nowadays five to 10 riders travel together, carrying up to 4,000 packs.

Huong's office said there were 34 drop-off points along the 55-kilometre Chau Doc – Long Xuyen and 87 full-time smugglers.

The anti-smuggling forces' hands are tied by the fact that regulations do not allow them to chase smugglers' motorbikes along the highway.

Besides, smugglers often hired other people to transport their cigarettes, making identification difficult, Hýng said.

And they were often so poor that it was difficult to fine them VND100 million even if they were caught, she said.

The An Giang police busted 357 cases of smuggling and seized 325,000 packs between May and August this year, according to the province's Steering Committee for Anti-Trafficking, Counterfeit Goods and Trade Frauds.

Smuggling increases [from Cambodia to VN] ahead of [Chinese New Year] holidays

30/12/2008
Viet Nam News (Hanoi)

VietNamNet Bridge – Smuggling has increased significantly in the lead-up to the Tet (Lunar New Year Festival) with more sophisticated means being deployed, according to police in the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta province of An Giang.

Police said the smuggled goods, chiefly cigarettes and sugar, had been brought into An Giang Province in large quantities by many means. Smugglers were bringing in goods hidden in their clothes, as well as hidden compartments in cars, trucks and boats.

An Giang market watch officials recently launched a surprise raid on a motorised boat at the Chau Doc River crossroads, confiscating 21.8 tonnes of Thai sugar hidden in the boat's bottom.

The officials had earlier seized a boat carrying 21,000 packs of smuggled cigarettes in Chau Doc Town, one of the most consumed goods during the Tet season.

In the first nine months of this year, An Giang police have discovered 746 cases of smuggled cigarettes on National Highway 91, seizing 100,000 cartons worth a total of VND6.3 billion ($381,000).

Smugglers are using waterways and motorbikes to transport contraband goods from Ca Mau hill in Cambodia to the Vinh Nguon canal in Chau Doc Town before storing them in nearby houses, according to An Giang police.

Later, the smuggled goods are piled up on motorbikes in big cylinders and transported to Long Xuyen Town (An Giang Province) and Can Tho City, with teams of motorbikes hitting the road late in the night at high speeds to avoid being caught by the police.

Smugglers are also attempting to transport their goods by buses or tourist cars to avoid police inspections. Most express tourist buses on the Chau Doc-Can Tho City route have carried several boxes of smuggled cigarettes, hidden in compartments.

Early this month, local police teamed with market watch officials to stop a bus and seized 490 cartons of cigarettes hidden in passenger seats.

Dang Tan Dac, deputy head of Police's PC15 Division in An Giang Province, has proposed that relevant agencies step up close monitoring of smuggling activities during Tet when demand for many commodities peaks.

He also called for stricter punishment for smugglers to protect domestic goods and prevent the infiltration of contrabrand into the south-western areas of Chau Doc and An Giang.

Cigarette smuggling [from Cambodia to Vietnam] burns up Mekong Delta province

Monday, August 18, 2008
Thanh Nien News (Hanoi)

Officials were pleased when tobacco smuggling was hampered by the rainy season – until industrious smugglers turned to using boats on the canals in the Cambodia-bordering province of Long An.

Vo Van Cuong, deputy police chief of Long An’s My Quy Dong Commune, Duc Hue District, said traffickers transported the contraband by boats at speeds of 50 kilometers per hour, which is too quick for the underequipped local constabulary.

Though My Quy Dong is a “hot spot” for cigarette smuggling in the Mekong Delta province, commune police have seized only 2,000 packs of cigarettes so far this year.

Most of the packs were collected after smugglers made hasty retreats from the police, Cuong said.

The policeman said traffickers used runners to walk the Vietnam–Cambodia border and into Cambodia’s Svay Rieng Province, before returning by boat to regroup at An Ninh Tay Commune’s Cay Xoai Wharf.

In the span of 20 minutes, a Thanh Nien reporter witnessed 10 boats carrying illicit tobacco through My Binh Canal.

Later that afternoon, three other boats full of contraband docked at Giong Noi Wharf.

A resident said Giong Noi Wharf was a place where illegal tobacco was gathered and then distributed to motorcycles from boats.

He said smugglers then transported tobacco to Ho Chi Minh City through Roads 8, 9, and 10.

The central steering committee responsible for combating contraband, fake goods, and trade fraud have recently launched a new tobacco smuggling telephone hotline at 1800-58-58-55 to mobilize the public to report the crime.

Reported by Hoang Phuong

Vietnam outwitted by its own people smuggling cigarettes from Cambodia

Illegal cigarettes are destroyed in a rubbish dump in Tu Nghia District in the central province of Quang Ngai. In the southern province of An Giang, authorities have failed to stop cigarettes being imported from Cambodia. — VNA/VNS Photo Thanh Long

Cigarette smugglers outwit officials

11-04-2008
VNS (Hanoi)

AN GIANG — Renewed efforts to stop contraband cigarettes being imported from Cambodia are likely to prove ineffective as the authorities admit to losing control over the market.

A "hot spot" for smuggled cigarettes, the southern province of An Giang has become a thriving centre for traffickers.

On the 50km road connecting Long Xuyen City with the border town of Chau Doc, many motorbike drivers were found to be carrying large packages of cigarettes while speeding.

On average, each smuggler is able to carry about 200 cartons of cigarettes. Yet according to the deputy head of An Giang Province’s Market Watch, Phan Loi, those smuggling by water pose greater worries because they illegally import thousands of boxes at a time.

Similarly, in the neighbouring province of Kien Giang, contraband cigarettes are smuggled through border areas.

The head of Kien Giang Market Watch’s Research and General Affairs section, Pham Ngoc Toan, said motorbike drivers often doubled as cigarette carriers because they could easily avoid the eye of anti-contraband forces. Each motorbike usually carries two people, one driving and another carrying cigarettes.

Cigarette trafficking has become so rampant that participants at a recent conference reviewing the implementation of anti-contraband initiatives were told that nearly seven million packs of illegal cigarettes were confiscated between last June and this March.

About 49 cities and provinces have reported cigarette trafficking, but naturally, the phenomenon has been most rampant in border provinces. Contraband cigarettes now make up nearly 40 per cent of the total market share. And in the western and southern provinces, the figure reaches a staggering 80 per cent.

Chairman of the Viet Nam Cigarettes Association, Nguyen Thai Sinh, said cigarette trafficking was adversely effecting domestic production.

He said many local companies had been forced to cut their output to about half in the first quarter of this year. And up to VND3,000 billion (more than US$187 million) in taxes had been lost to cigarette smugglers.

Speaking at the conference, in HCM City last week, the head of Quang Tri Province’s Customs Office, Le Van Toi, admitted that border forces could do little to combat smugglers.

In an attempt to retrieve some lost taxes, the State has raised the special consumption tax on cigarettes from 55 to 65 per cent.

However, specialists believe the increase will do no more than create extra motivation for traffickers to import cigarettes illegally.

Quang Tri Province, which is adjacent to the Lao Bao border gate, confiscated more than 1.2 million packs of illegal cigarettes a year. An Giang Province ranks second with nearly 1.1 million packs.

Another factor believed to be creating favourable conditions for cigarette trafficking is that the State still allows people in border areas to buy goods worth VND2 million ($125) a day.

By doing so, chairman of the Viet Nam Cigarettes Association, Nguyen Thai Sinh, calculated that this helped put millions of packs of tax-free on the streets of Viet Nam daily.

Anti-contraband forces are also worried that no proper checks have been put on the buying of these cigarettes by border people. Therefore, it is easy for wheelers and dealers to lure poor border people into buying and selling cigarettes.

A senior official at An Giang Customs Office, Tran Buu Tai, said traffickers had intensified their operation since the Government issued a decree in September, 2006, stating that cigarettes were not a forbidden commodity.

This is why no criminal proceedings are taken against cigarette traffickers. Even when a person carries contraband cigarettes worth more than VND100 million ($6,250), no punishment is meted out.

Conference participants were concerned that contraband cigarettes will keep flooding the market if no drastic measures are taken.

Vietnam: Cambodia is the source of smuggled cigarettes into Vietnam

A custom officer checking a seized bag of smuggled cigarettes

Illegal cigarette destroyed in Mekong Delta

Monday, September 17, 2007
Thanh Nien News (Hanoi)

More than 71,000 packets of smuggled and counterfeit cigarettes were destroyed Monday in the Mekong Delta province of Long An, the local market management department reports.

With the bust, the total of illegal cigarettes seized this year comes to four million packets nationwide.

Most of the illicit products are under trade name Hero and Jet, smuggled mainly from the neighboring country Cambodia.

One way of recognizing these products is when there is no compulsory line printed on packet to warn users about physical damages from smoking.

Reported by Thien Long – Translated by Minh Phat