Strongly handling Contraband at End of year

​The Provincial police force seized a case of smuggling foreign alcohol without origin.

Contraband and counterfeit goods are complicated

According to statistics of the Provincial Police Department, hundreds of cases related to the economic field are annually violated such as smuggling of illegal goods; producing and trading banned and poor quality goods; infringements of intellectual property, and fake brands and labels to bring into the market products without quality assurance, greatly affecting the health and property of numerous number of people, especially at the end of the year.

This makes the problem of handling contraband and counterfeit goods in the last months of the year "hotter" than ever. Therefore, at this time, functional forces such as police and market surveillance are enhancing solutions to promptly detect and prevent transportation, smuggling and production of counterfeit goods; and handle offending subjects to prevent any products and goods without quality and with a risk of negative impact on the health and life of people.

The most recent case was the detection of 462 bottles of foreign brand Chivas 21 (type of 1,000ml/ bottle) carried on a container truck with number plate 51C-476.07 on the afternoon of December 12, 2020 by the Patrol and Control Team of the Traffic Police Department of the Provincial Police on patrol on National Highway 1 (the section passing through Xuan Loc District). Working with the police, the driver failed to present any invoices and documents related to the item above. The driver claimed that he was hired to transport the wine from Binh Thuan Province to Ho Chi Minh City.

In particular, on December 4, 2020, the Economic Police Department of the Provincial Police suddenly inspected Son Minh Pharmacy (under Son Minh Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.) located on Phan Dinh Phung Street (Trung Dung Ward, Bien Hoa City), discovered and temporarily seized a batch of functional foods, medicines and some medical equipment with about 220 barrels worth about 5 billion as the owner could not present invoices and document related to the above items.

According to the provincial police, through the people's reflection, some pharmacies in Bien Hoa city previously sold medicines and functional foods of unknown origin, with a risk of affecting human health, police agencies have checked those establishments to promptly detect and prevent the above acts of violation.

Inspecting and handling smuggling, and sale and purchase of banned goods

According to the authorities, in addition to the increase in household and essential goods that are smuggled, counterfeited, and faked, at the end of the year, a number of prohibited items such as cigarettes and firecrackers are also released to the market. These types of goods are mainly imported from abroad like China, Cambodia and so on. After entering Vietnam, the subjects have tried to bring the goods to many other localities deep inland in the country for consumption.

Facing this issue, in the remaining months of 2020, the provincial and the local police have also actively implemented plans to fight, suppress, arrest and handle these subjects.

In Bien Hoa City, right in the first days of the peak attack and suppression of crime at the end of the year, the leaders of Bien Hoa City Police, professional teams, and police of wards and communes detected, arrested and handled a series of illegal firecrackers. For just about half a month of the peak implementation (from December 15 to December 30, 2020), Bien Hoa City police discovered 9 cases, arrested 11 subjects, and seized more than 200kg of firecrackers of all kinds.

Latest on the morning of December 23, 2020, in the area of ​​Tan Hoa Ward (Bien Hoa City), the Economic Police Team of Bien Hoa City Police caught Nguyen Thanh Hai (28 years old, living in Bien Hoa City) carrying 31 boxes of firecrackers, weighing nearly 50kg on a truck for delivery preparation. Hai claimed that the above number of firecrackers was transported from Binh Phuoc Province but unsold before beingcaught.

Previously, on December 19, 2020, a reconnaissance of the Economic Police Team of the Bien Hoa City Police had caught Chung Quang Phap (24 years, living in Tay Ninh Province) and Pham Ngoc Tan (32 years, a native of Ha Tinh Province) using a truck to transport 60 boxes of firecrackers of all kinds with a total weight of 98kg in Hoa An Ward. Through investigation, the subjects were arrested while delivering the above items to Bien Hoa City to their customers.

Not only firecrackers, another banned product like tobacco, also transported and increasingly sold in the last months of the year. Specifically, on December 17, 2020, through inspection, Long Thanh District Police found Ms. D.T.T. (living in Long Thanh Town, Long Thanh District) selling smuggled cigarettes to her customers. Conducting an inspection of Ms. T.'s house, the police forces discovered and seized 1,820 packages of smuggled cigarettes with brands like Hero and Jet, ect. On the basis of the seized material, the police force filed an urgent arrest record for Ms. D.T.T. for investigation.

Focusing on prevention and handling of violation

In order to promptly prevent contraband, banned goods, counterfeit goods, and trade fraud at the end of the year, Dong Nai Province's Acting Director of the Market Surveillance Department Vo Van Tinh advised that the unit has developed an inspection and control plan for production, trading and circulation of goods on the market before, during and after the Lunar New Year 2021.

Accordingly, the Market Surveillance Department will actively coordinate with the economic police force, customs, etc. to promptly detect, prevent and handle cases of storing, transporting, buying and selling banned and contraband goods, producing and trading fake and poor quality goods, infringement of intellectual property rights, violation of food safety and hygiene and so on. Besides, the functional forces are also expected to focus on handling cases of price increases, speculation, and pinning of goods, causing instability in the market at the end of the year.

Talking about the fight, handling and prevention of illicit trade, especially firecrackers at the end of the year, Colonel Huynh Yen Nam, Chief of Bien Hoa City Police said, trading and transportation and the burning of firecrackers often developin a complicated manner during the holidays and Tet holidays, sothe city police have implemented many professional measures and organized to arrest and strictly handle violations of firecrackers; at the same time, organized propaganda about harmful effects of the use of firecrackers as well as sanctions against acts of buying, selling, transporting and using firecrackers for people to raise their awareness and avoid such violation.

In the coming time, the police will coordinate with local authorities to focus on propaganda for people to better understand the Government's Decree 137/2020/ND-CP dated November 27, 2020 on management and use of firecrackers. Accordingly, Article 17 of Decree 137/2020/ ND-CP stipulates that agencies, organizations and individuals with full civil act capacity may use fireworks in cases of holidays, New Year and Lunar New Year, birthdays, weddings, conferences, opening ceremonies, anniversaries, and cultural and artistic activities. However, the fireworks used by agencies, organizations and individuals are understood to contain firework explosives, only causing sound, light, and colour effects in space when burned without noise of explosion. Production, transportation, possession, sale and use of firecrackers including fireworkswill be administratively handled, or subject to criminal penalties as prescribed in Article 190 and 191, 2015 Penal Code. The highest penalty for these acts is from 10 to 15 years of imprisonment.       

Tung Duong