While cross-border smuggling in the Cuu Long ( Mekong ) Delta'sborder areas has decreased somewhat, no headway has been made againstthe trafficking of cigarette, local authorities concede.
They say that the highly porous borders, lack of co-ordination betweenconcerned agencies, lax local management as well as increasinglysophisticated and risky ruses employed by smugglers make containmentextremely difficult.
The three hotspots for thesmuggling in the region are the provinces of An Giang, Dong Thap andKien Giang, all of which border Cambodia . In the lead up to the Tet(Lunar New Year) festival, the inflow of smuggled cigarettes from thisarea to HCM City has increased significantly.
The three Mekong Delta provinces account for 80 per cent of the totalsmuggled cigarettes consumed in the HCM City and the Deltamarkets.
Cigarettes are among the consumer goodsthat attract high taxes including alcohol and beer. Since the managementpolicies on cigarette smuggling are tight and the product scarce,smugglers who can buy them cheap and sell at high prices stand to makesubstantial profits.
After the Government's Decree76/ND-CP on cigarette production and trade issued last October came intoforce, there was a lull in the cigarette smuggling market, a trader inLong An, another Delta province that borders Cambodia, told the Lao Dong(Labour) newspaper on condition of anonymity.
"But it lasted for only few days and then came back to normal," he added.
He said Jet and Hero were the brands smuggled most into Viet Nam .
As cross-border smuggling typically surges ahead of Tet, PrimeMinister Nguyen Tan Dung on Monday ordered a crackdown on the illegalactivity.
He asked the Central Steering Committee127 to work closely with provincial authorities to exert better controlover cross-border smuggling by identifying routes and methods most usedby smugglers.
Tough task
However, the fight against cigarette smuggling faced tough challenges,said Tran Minh Tien, deputy head of the Kien Giang Customs Department.
He said the smugglers had become more daring and were deploying more sophisticated tricks.
The most common method of smuggling cigarette was to transport themafter splitting the cargo into smaller amounts, mostly by motorbikesthat travel at high speed. The drivers always chose to go into heavytraffic during peak hours, making it very difficult for the police andcustoms officers to chase and catch them.
Accordingto the Vietnam Tobacco Association, only one per cent, or 7.3 millionpacks, of the total cigarettes smuggled into Vietnam was seized lastyear. Around 800 million packs were smuggled into Vietnam last yearthrough the southern region's western border, equivalent to 20 percentof the nation's total consumption.
Last year sawKien Giang customs and police crack 38 smuggling cases and seizeproperty worth more than 300 million VND (15,300 USD), including a smallnumber of cigarette cases. This was 24 percent lower than the previousyear. In the first 11 months of last year, anti-smuggling forces in LongAn managed to seize only around 900,000 packs of cigarette.
The failure in controlling cigarette smuggling in this area inparticular showed poor management, Tien said. The demarcation ofresponsibilities and jurisdiction over different markets and areas waspartly responsible for this, he added./.
They say that the highly porous borders, lack of co-ordination betweenconcerned agencies, lax local management as well as increasinglysophisticated and risky ruses employed by smugglers make containmentextremely difficult.
The three hotspots for thesmuggling in the region are the provinces of An Giang, Dong Thap andKien Giang, all of which border Cambodia . In the lead up to the Tet(Lunar New Year) festival, the inflow of smuggled cigarettes from thisarea to HCM City has increased significantly.
The three Mekong Delta provinces account for 80 per cent of the totalsmuggled cigarettes consumed in the HCM City and the Deltamarkets.
Cigarettes are among the consumer goodsthat attract high taxes including alcohol and beer. Since the managementpolicies on cigarette smuggling are tight and the product scarce,smugglers who can buy them cheap and sell at high prices stand to makesubstantial profits.
After the Government's Decree76/ND-CP on cigarette production and trade issued last October came intoforce, there was a lull in the cigarette smuggling market, a trader inLong An, another Delta province that borders Cambodia, told the Lao Dong(Labour) newspaper on condition of anonymity.
"But it lasted for only few days and then came back to normal," he added.
He said Jet and Hero were the brands smuggled most into Viet Nam .
As cross-border smuggling typically surges ahead of Tet, PrimeMinister Nguyen Tan Dung on Monday ordered a crackdown on the illegalactivity.
He asked the Central Steering Committee127 to work closely with provincial authorities to exert better controlover cross-border smuggling by identifying routes and methods most usedby smugglers.
Tough task
However, the fight against cigarette smuggling faced tough challenges,said Tran Minh Tien, deputy head of the Kien Giang Customs Department.
He said the smugglers had become more daring and were deploying more sophisticated tricks.
The most common method of smuggling cigarette was to transport themafter splitting the cargo into smaller amounts, mostly by motorbikesthat travel at high speed. The drivers always chose to go into heavytraffic during peak hours, making it very difficult for the police andcustoms officers to chase and catch them.
Accordingto the Vietnam Tobacco Association, only one per cent, or 7.3 millionpacks, of the total cigarettes smuggled into Vietnam was seized lastyear. Around 800 million packs were smuggled into Vietnam last yearthrough the southern region's western border, equivalent to 20 percentof the nation's total consumption.
Last year sawKien Giang customs and police crack 38 smuggling cases and seizeproperty worth more than 300 million VND (15,300 USD), including a smallnumber of cigarette cases. This was 24 percent lower than the previousyear. In the first 11 months of last year, anti-smuggling forces in LongAn managed to seize only around 900,000 packs of cigarette.
The failure in controlling cigarette smuggling in this area inparticular showed poor management, Tien said. The demarcation ofresponsibilities and jurisdiction over different markets and areas waspartly responsible for this, he added./.
