VietNamNet Bridge – The incidence of smuggling and other customs fraud acts has almost doubled since last year, customs authorities in HCM City said.

Customs officials check passengers' luggage at the entry gate to Tan Son Nhat International Airport. The Customs Department has implemented numerous measures to fight trade fraud and smuggling. (Photo: VNS)
The Customs Department uncovered more than 6,000 cases of trade fraud this year, a 93 per cent increase over last year. More than 800 involved smuggling of addictive substances. In 2,000 cases, the customs seized smuggled goods which were worth more than VND300 billion (US$14.3 million).

They include 3.1kg of synthetic drugs carried by a Thai woman named Preyanooch Phuttharaksa who was caught at Tan Son Nhat Airport in HCM City on October 29.

In July the department seized 4.1 kg of methamphetamines at the airport from a Vietnamese woman called Tran Ha Tien.

Trafficking such large quantities of drugs through the airport showed that the traffickers had become more daring and reckless, it said.

Besides old tricks like falsely declaring quantity, items, and codes and claiming to export ordinary items, smugglers had also begun to employ more sophisticated tricks to fool customs, it said.

For instance, they have begun to take advantage of the customs procedures going online by forging documents.

Another trick is to keep contraband just outside the city without declaring it to wait for a "safe" time to bring them in. If discovered, they would simply refuse to take delivery and ask for the goods to be sent back.

Some capitalise on the flexibility of the Corporate Law, which allows businesses to defer payment of customs duties, by simultaneously importing large quantities of goods through different points at the same time, and closing down their businesses before the taxes fall due.

This had resulted in big losses to the Government's coffers, the department said.

But it has been fighting back against trade fraud by making public the names of offending businesses and their crimes so that relevant bodies can take precautions.

The city's struggle against smuggling, however, is an uphill one due to the large and complicated field of action, which includes the airport, post offices, ports, and export processing zones.

There may have been improvements in the tools authorities have at their disposal, but they remain inadequate.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News