Hoanh Mo Border Guard Station: Proactively preventing smuggling from the border

As a gateway connecting trade between Vietnam and China, the border line, Hoanh Mo Border Gate (Binh Lieu district) is being tightly controlled thanks to synchronous and drastic solutions of the border guards.

Officers and soldiers of Hoanh Mo Border Guard Station and people of Dong Van commune (Binh Lieu district) clear the border marker patrol route.

The Border Guard Station at Hoanh Mo Border Gate (BPCK) is responsible for managing and protecting more than 43km of border with China, in 6 border communes, with 79 villages, including 21 border villages. Because the majority of the people in the area are ethnic minorities, have limited knowledge of the law, and have difficult lives, they are easily taken advantage of by bad elements, lured into participating in smuggling, trade fraud (BLGLTM) and illegal transportation of goods across the border.

This is the factor that makes the area always potentially vulnerable to becoming a "promised land" for smugglers to take advantage of their activities. According to the assessment of the Hoanh Mo Border Guard Station, in the first months of 2025, the situation of smuggling and illegal transportation of goods across the border was basically controlled, but there were still scattered small-scale incidents. Recently, the illegal transportation of consumer goods, firecrackers and illegal XNC activities have emerged.

One of the typical cases on May 22, in the Pac Poc residential area (Hoanh Mo commune), Hoanh Mo Border Guard Station coordinated with the Drug and Crime Prevention Task Force (Provincial Border Guard) and Hoanh Mo Customs to discover and seize a car carrying nearly 200kg of crayfish of unknown origin. Driver Le Van Dan (residing in Hai Ha district) confessed to transporting the goods from Binh Lieu to Mong Cai for 2 million VND.

Hoanh Mo Border Guard Station coordinated to arrest a car carrying nearly 200kg of crayfish of unknown origin, May 22, 2025.

Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Thanh Hoang, Political Commissar of Hoanh Mo Border Guard Station, said: To proactively prevent and combat crime, we regularly innovate our methods of fighting, organize peak periods, preside over and coordinate with functional forces to strengthen crime suppression, and prevent the formation of hot spots and complications.

Since the beginning of the year, Hoanh Mo Border Guard Station has organized 596 patrols with more than 3,390 officers and soldiers, a sharp increase compared to the same period in 2024. The working groups focus on strictly controlling key border sections such as the area from landmark M1305 to the 1,146m high point, contributing to the timely detection and prevention of illegal border crossings, illegal immigration, and drug crimes.

The unit also maintains coordination with adjacent border posts such as Quang Duc Border Post (Provincial Border Guard) and Bac Xa Border Post ( Lang Son Provincial Border Guard), regularly organizing joint patrols to manage and protect the border. Coordinate with border communes of Binh Lieu district to clear roads and clear border visibility with a length of more than 2.3km, ensuring safety according to the Vietnam - China Border Management Agreement.

Not only has the Border Guard Station increased patrols and controls, it has also done a good job of disseminating the law, encouraging people not to assist or cover up violations. In the first 6 months of the year, the unit has organized 15 dissemination sessions with more than 1,000 people attending. The disseminated contents include the Law on National Borders, the Law on Border Guards, the Law on Immigration, and Decree 34/2014/ND-CP on border area regulations.

In addition, the Hoanh Mo Border Guard Station also organizes mobile communication sessions, targeting visitors through the border gate and border residents, with an average of about 165 people/day. In particular, the unit has coordinated to organize 4 border history classes, propagating about sovereignty marker 1317 for 340 students in the area. Thanks to good propaganda and mobilization work, since the beginning of the year, people have provided the Hoanh Mo Border Guard Station with 63 sources of information, of which 30 are valuable to serve the effective fight against smuggling and crime.

With many drastic and synchronous solutions, from the beginning of 2025 to now, Hoanh Mo Border Guard Station has handled 16 cases/34 law violators. Of which, 2 cases/6 subjects were prosecuted for organizing illegal immigration for others, and recommended prosecuting 1 case/3 subjects for trading in prohibited goods. The border force also imposed a total administrative fine of 142 million VND and destroyed illegal goods worth more than 122 million VND.

It is forecasted that in the last months of the year, the situation of illegal border trade will continue to be complicated, so the Hoanh Mo Border Guard Station will continue to tighten control, closely coordinate with the Chinese side and functional forces to effectively combat illegal acts on the border and border gates under the unit's responsibility. Thereby, continuing to maintain security, order and national border sovereignty.

Nguyen Chien

Source: https://baoquangninh.vn/don-bpck-hoanh-mo-chu-dong-ngan-chan-buon-lau-tu-bien-gioi-3363142.html