VietNamNet Bridge – Customs agencies have expressed their worries about the increasingly high imports of the devices which allow to record images, take pictures sneakily and eavesdrop.

On December 12, the HCM City Customs Agency received the customs declaration from Nguyen Bao Le, residing in district 3 in HCM City, about the import of a watch.

This was a watch-shaped tiny camera which has a lot of important functions, from shooting to recording images and voice.

Just four days later, on December 16, the customs agency discovered that Nguyen Thi Phuong, a woman with the registered residential address in Vung Tau City, imported a set of car keys. When verifying the keys, the customs agency found that it was a device allowing taking pictures and recording.

These products, under the current regulations, can be imported to Vietnam, while importers can get the customs clearance after paying tax.

However, customs agencies have expressed their worries about the increasingly high volume of the imports. In 2013, a lot of individuals imported the hidden cameras and bugs which looked like normal utensils for daily use.

In April 2013, Richard Forwod, British nationality, who lived in Thu Duc district in HCM City, two times made customs declaration for the import of the “detective instruments.”

The first import consignment he received comprised of razors, toothbrushes and shampoo with Adidas brand, sourced from Hong Kong. The second one included clothes hook, ballpoint pen, and phone charger.

All the imports were high technology items with the capacity of 4-32GB, remote control and capable to connect computers. The functions of eavesdropping, secretly filming can be carried out through the measuring of the signal strength of radio frequencies.

Prior to that, it was the customs agency which gave warnings about the import in large quantity of “magic ball-point pens.” The pens, coded as Firixon Baloo 3, look like any other types of pens, but have a special function.

The pens use a special kind of ink which would evaporate under the effect of heat. All the letters written down on papers with this kind of ink would “disappear” if the papers are put to dry.

Many months ago, local newspapers reported about the strange cases, where the invoices and contracts turned plain, because the words could not be found any more.

The Vietnamese current trade policies do not prohibit the imports. The product items cannot be found in the list of conditional import items released by the Ministry of Industry and Trade. This means that the products are allowed to be imported to Vietnam like other normal goods and they do not have to meet any special requirements.

However, the customs agencies have warned that if the import of the special products cannot be strictly controlled, they would be used by individuals and institutions for wrong purposes. It would be very dangerous if the tiny devices are installed in hotels, guest houses or the private spaces.

Especially, some analysts have warned that the devices could be dangerous for the Vietnam sovereign security.

They have also pointed out that a lot of “detective devices” shown in the US films, have been available on online markets in Vietnam. The products are not cheap, but they are still affordable to many people. A product can be bought at VND900,000. The average price is VND2-3 million, or VND5-7 million at maximum.

Pham Huyen