From: Customs News
The route of illicit cigarettes
VCN- In comparison with the border area of Long An, Tay Ninh (adjacent to Ho Chi Minh City), tobacco smuggling activities in border provinces in the Mekong Delta such as An Giang, Kien Giang, Dong Thap seemed to be quite but still had their own complexity
By Dang Nguyen/ Hoang Anh
Dong Thap Customs officers seized illicit cigarettes.
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In the afternoon of June 2017, at the border of Vinh Nguon (An Giang), there was the appearance of illegal cigarettes waiting to be transported into inland. Although this time was the delivery hours and the transportation of illegal cigarettes, the situation was quiet. We were wondering whether we were passive today, but we heard the sound of a motorcycle scurrying, then we could barely see 4 motorbikes carrying the cigarette luggage in a passenger car on the road. On the road from Chau Doc to Long Xuyen on Highway 91, we occasionally encountered groups of motorcycles carrying illicit cigarettes at a high speed.
According to the Steering committee of 389 An Giang province, illegal cigarettes are tending to increase because perpetrators have caught the difficulties of the forces in the processing of illegal cigarettes. Earlier, they only transported 490 packages per time per car, now they shipped 1,500 packages per time per car. At present, apart from old methods such as sugar-farming, subdivision of transported goods, perpetrators no longer stored cigarettes in the house but left them unoccupied areas and sent people nearby to guard. When they were discovered, they quickly left the goods and vehicles, so it was very difficult to capture both perpetrators and smuggled cigarettes. Thousands of packages have been seized by market forces. In the first 6 months of 2017, the number of smuggled cigarettes in An Giang province reached more than 500,000 packages, an increase of nearly 10% in comparison with 2017, but it was noticeable that the actual number of illegal cigarettes across borders was still high.
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