Since the beginning of 2020, the High Command of Coast Guard Region 3 and the Border Guard of Ba Ria - Vung Tau province have detected and handled 6 cases of illegally transporting and trading DO oil of no origin.

The Coast Guard force coordinates with customs to detect and handle ships illegally transporting oil. Photo: Vietnam Coast Guard

On April 2, a working group of the High Command of Coast Guard Region 3 inspected a fishing vessel named Tan Thanh BT 98114 TS of captain Nguyen Van Nghia (residing in Tan Long ward, My Tho city, Tien Giang province), which was transporting about 40m3 of DO oil. At the time of inspection, captain Nghia could not present any invoices and documents proving the legality of the D.O oil in accordance with the regulations. The working group made a minute and temporarily seized the oil for verification in accordance with law.

The relevant agencies of Ba Ria-Vung Tau province have increased grasping the situation, controlling the area, building a plan to fight against and combating illegal petroleum trade in the local waters but the fight against smuggling of oil at sea has faced a lot of difficulties because smugglers have employed more and more sophisticated and cunning tricks. Smugglers frequently change the ship's name and number, use fake foreign license plates.

Recently, smugglers have used another very sophisticated trick: taking advantage of Decree 67/2014 ND-CP on building seafood logistic ships to purchase petroleum with unclear origin at sea, and then sell to other ships without invoice to evade tax.

According to Mr. Le Quang Hai, Director of the Ba Ria-Vung Tau Provincial Department of Market Management, Deputy Head of the Standing Committee 389/DP on the prevention of smuggling and trade fraud in Ba Ria - Vung Tau province, the Steering Committee 389/DP will request relevant units to step up the fight against smuggling, in which focus on inspecting the waters from the float number "0", the seaport area, international border gates, and coordinating closely, exchanging information with the Coast Guard, the Border Guard, and the Customs Agency in order to grasp the situation of smuggling at sea to prevent and promptly handle it.

Huyen Sam