Need to strengthen anti-smuggling mechanism

An Giang is a border province with a long border with Cambodia, with many trails, openings, canals and large fields. This is a favorable condition for subjects to take advantage of transporting goods illegally. Along with the preference for foreign goods of a segment of consumers, the situation of smuggling across the border continues to have many potential complications.

Government delegation inspects Tinh Bien border

Border province efforts

According to the Provincial People's Committee, in the first 5 months of 2025, the authorities detected and arrested 281 violations (a decrease of 337 cases compared to the same period last year), equivalent to a decrease of 53.5%. Of these, 119 cases were administratively sanctioned (a decrease of 267 cases), equivalent to a decrease of 69.2%. The total amount of money collected and paid to the State budget was more than 4.6 billion VND. In addition, the authorities prosecuted 15 criminal cases (a decrease of 2 cases). Particularly during the implementation of the Plan for the peak period before, during and after the Lunar New Year 2025, the authorities in the province inspected, detected and arrested 134 cases (a decrease of 64.8% compared to the same period in 2024).

Tinh Bien Town has a long border, 1 international border gate, many goods gathering points and many small-scale border crossings. The methods and tricks of the subjects are very diverse, without any certain rules; using all kinds of means to carry out smuggling, from carrying belts to transporting by cars, motorbikes, motorboats... "Closely following the direction of the Provincial Steering Committee 389, the Town People's Committee, the members used many professional measures to strengthen the border and inland routes. Thereby, checking, detecting and arresting 101 cases, involving 116 subjects, violations and making records to temporarily detain 2,578 toy products, interior decoration products without invoices, documents; total value of goods 108.5 million VND. We strive to prevent the occurrence of hot spots of smuggling, prohibited goods, counterfeit goods, cases of using motorbikes to transport smuggled goods, prohibited goods running at high speed on road traffic routes, contributing to creating a stable market, protecting the legitimate rights of consumers, ensuring security and order" - Lieutenant Colonel Dinh Quang Diem, Head of the Border Guard Station of Tinh Bien International Border Gate said.

“In general, the functional forces (police, border guards, customs and market management) have strengthened their professional coordination, promptly and effectively handling complex, cross-border and organized cases. In particular, the number of violations has decreased significantly in terms of the number of cases, the value of violated goods and the number of subjects involved. This shows that the propaganda, inspection and handling measures have been implemented synchronously, initially bringing about real results. This result reflects the high determination of the provincial leaders, affirming the effectiveness of the inter-sectoral coordination mechanism in the work of preventing and combating smuggling, trade fraud and counterfeit goods in recent times” - Vice Chairman of An Giang Provincial People's Committee Le Van Phuoc emphasized.

A smuggling case was arrested

Still stuck on the mechanism

Reporting to the Central Inspection Team, the Provincial People's Committee reported a number of difficulties in this "war". Currently, a number of departments, branches and sectors have been reorganized and restructured, leading to adjustments in functions, tasks, powers and organizational structure. This has more or less affected the progress of the implementation of the process of building and promulgating regulations on coordination of activities in the work of preventing and combating smuggling, trade fraud, counterfeit goods, as well as the consolidation of the Provincial Steering Committee 389.

In the process of law enforcement, the application of the Law on Handling of Administrative Violations (VPHC) has not been smooth. Typically, Clause 5, Article 58 (amended and supplemented in 2020) stipulates: “In cases where the administrative violation is not under the sanctioning authority of the person making the record, the record and other documents must be transferred to the competent person for sanctioning within 24 hours from the time of making the record…”. This provision is difficult to ensure in practice for cases under the authority of the Chairman of the Provincial People’s Committee, especially cases where records are made by market management teams far from the provincial administrative center, because it takes time to check, review, and appraise the records before submitting them to the competent authority. Clause 1, Article 81 stipulates: “When confiscating exhibits, means of administrative violation… the competent person for sanctioning must make a record…”. In case the penalty decision is issued by the Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee or the head of the competent authority, it is difficult to directly draw up a record of confiscation of exhibits due to the specific nature of the organizational apparatus and actual decentralization.

In addition, the forces directly involved in the fight against smuggling, trade fraud and counterfeit goods are still lacking compared to the increasingly complex and demanding tasks. Mobilizing and supporting career change for those who regularly participate in and assist in smuggling activities still face many difficulties, because most of them do not have stable jobs and unstable incomes. Currently, the forces with the authority to handle administrative violations do not have a common information system to manage and share data on violators, especially criminal records. Most of the detected cases are mainly handled in the form of administrative violations; many cases of evidence have no owner, while the number of subjects arrested and handled is still low compared to the number of cases, leading to the deterrent effect not being as expected.

The People's Committee of An Giang province recommends that the Government pay attention to directing relevant ministries and branches to study, amend, supplement and issue specific guidance documents for a number of provisions of the Law on Handling of Administrative Violations; amend and supplement a number of contents related to the order and procedures for handling fines, the authority to draw up records, apply measures to confiscate exhibits; build and deploy a shared database system nationwide...

At the working session with the People's Committee of An Giang province at the end of May 2025, Senior Lieutenant General Vo Minh Luong, member of the Party Central Committee, Deputy Minister of National Defense , Deputy Head of the National Steering Committee 389, Deputy Head of the Prime Minister's Working Group 950 affirmed that he would report to the Prime Minister to direct the review, amendment and supplementation of the system of legal documents in accordance with reality; recommend the Politburo and the Secretariat to have mechanisms and policies for border residents to stabilize their lives, minimizing collusion with criminals. On the part of the Provincial People's Committee, it is necessary to direct competent agencies to review, supplement and perfect the coordination regulations when there are changes, and rearrange the organizational structure of the forces. Innovate propaganda activities, make people become smart consumers; create breakthrough changes in anti-smuggling work, and define responsibilities so as not to overlap or miss tasks.

GIA KHANH

Source: https://baoangiang.com.vn/can-tang-cuong-co-che-chong-buon-lau-a422356.html