Smuggling remains rife at borders

Smugglers have been capitalising on the duty-free store at Moc Bai border gate with Cambodia to traffic a variety of products to nearby HCM City while officials struggle to check the situation, reported Tuoi Tre (Youth) Newspaper.

Tay Ninh Province’s Moc Bai Duty-free Superstore, which is around 500 metres from the border gate, has become a magnet to smugglers shopping for wine, cigarettes, mobile phones, electronic goods, chemicals, cosmetics and car accessories.

Shoppers can easily rent identity cards allowing them to buy more than the VND500,000 (US$25) a day limit.

They can also collect car accessories at open-air markets in Cambodia, then divide them into small batches which they can transport them through the border gate without customs duties.

These batches will converge at some locations along national road 22 which links HCM City with Phnom Penh and be transported to the city by buses.

Boxes of Heineken beer are priced at VND500,000 ($25) by traders that hang around the super store, while the same box of beer costs VND140,000($7) more in HCM City.

Cambodian-passport holders usually buy as much as they can, given that they are not under an imposed value quota. They end up bringing goods across the border then selling them to smugglers who will transport them back to Viet Nam.

According to a garage owner in Binh Chanh District, who spoke on condition of anonymity, some drivers just drive their cars across border to have their accessories replaced before driving back, in the process avoiding the 40 per cent import tax.

Smugglers employ buses shuttling between the border gate and HCM City’s Ben Thanh Market with stops at other wholesales markets, to transport their merchandise.

“We’re not allowed to chase suspected vehicles as chases are dangerous and would probably cause accidents,” said Do Van Sua, a manager of Moc Bai Checkpoint on the national road at Go Dau District.

“Smuggling buses usually run at high speed,” he added, noting that smugglers are usually warned of checks in advance.

“We’re not tight enough on security,” he complained.

Vo Thanh Phong, head of the provincial department in charge of market monitoring and a member of the anti-smuggling steering committee, said that anti-smuggling forces cannot check every passing vehicle as they are worried about causing traffic congestion, especially during rush hours.

“In fact, we’re allowed to search any bus provided that we have clear evidence of smuggled goods to avoid bothering drivers in the road,” he explained.

He said that three mobile task force units had been brought into play in an attempt to capture elusive smuggles.

“Each team has from three to four members. One is stationed at a border bus station and the other two at locations along the road,” he said.

They monitor the loading of goods at the station and inform teams along the road to stop suspected buses for searches, he added.

“The forces stationed at the bus station are too small to deal with a large number of smugglers there,” he explained.

Smuggling is on the rise as the Tet (Lunar New Year) holiday approaches, he said, but is has showed signs of slowing in terms of alcoholic beverages in particular.

“Domestic consumers are now more alert due to concerns about counterfeit wine and beer,” he explained.

However, smugglers still risk bringing cigarettes into the country given high consumer demand, even though cigarettes are already listed as forbidden goods leaving importers open to facing criminal charges since the beginning of last September, he said.

“Cigarette smugglers usually travel in groups at night. They just run behind big trucks so they’re not spotted by police.”

“We will bring to court four major cases involving more than 1,500 packets of cigarettes each to deter other smugglers,” he added.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade’s new decree that banned the sale of petrol in separate containers has helped contain petrol smuggling into Cambodia given the price margin between the two countries.

“Violating gas stations will face strict penalties, including revocation of their business licences,” he said. — VNS