OMD 7: Customs authorities of various countries tighten coordination to suppress crime

(Chinhphu.vn) - The conclusion of the Mekong Dragon Campaign 7 marks the close cooperation between many countries and international organizations, thereby contributing to strengthening the capacity to prevent drug crimes, protect wildlife and enhance regional security.

Mekong Dragon Campaign 7 (OMD 7) Summary Conference - Photo: VGP

The Mekong Dragon Campaign 7 (OMD 7) Summary Conference took place on November 18-19, 2025 in Khanh Hoa , with the participation of nearly 60 delegates from Customs agencies of member countries and international law enforcement organizations.

This event was organized by Vietnam Customs in coordination with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the Regional Intelligence Liaison Office for Asia and the Pacific (RILO AP-WCO), to summarize the results of phase 7 of the Campaign and promote cooperation in the coming time.

Operation Mekong Dragon (OMD) is a series of coordinated activities between customs agencies and law enforcement forces in the Asia- Pacific region, focusing on combating the trafficking of drugs, wildlife, wild plants and CITES-listed products. The campaign was jointly initiated by Vietnam Customs and China Customs and implemented since 2018.

Phase 7 in Vietnam was activated from April 15 to September 15, 2025, with the participation of 24 customs agencies, law enforcement forces and international organizations, and received strong support from the Campaign Coordination Board.

Speaking at the Conference, Mr. Dang Van Duc - Deputy Head of the Anti-Smuggling Investigation Department said that during the OMD 5, 6 and 7 phases, Vietnam Customs has strengthened cooperation with the Drug Crime Investigation Police Department (C04) and the Environmental Crime Prevention Police Department (C05) under the Ministry of Public Security; at the same time, expanded the Campaign to all local Customs Departments. Information sharing from partners such as China, Australia, Hong Kong (China) or Japan has helped Vietnam detect many major drug cases, contributing to strengthening the effectiveness of the fight against crime.

According to the report at the Conference, in the first 10 months of 2025, Vietnam Customs coordinated with functional units to detect 165 cases, arrest 213 subjects, and seize 2.3 tons of various drugs. This is an outstanding result and demonstrates increasingly close coordination between law enforcement forces.

Not only Vietnam achieved remarkable results, the OMD 7 Campaign across the region also recorded 1,155 cases detected and handled. Of these, 1,027 cases involved drugs, seizing 11.8 tons of drugs and more than 1.7 million synthetic drug pills; 20 cases involved precursors with 353 kg and 3,800 pills seized; and 108 cases involved wild animals and plants with a total of 4,951.9 kg and 12,800 specimens.

The UNODC representative said that OMD is not only a specialized campaign but also a platform for building trust, sharing intelligence and promoting collective action against transnational organized crime. UNODC affirmed that it will continue to provide technical assistance, information exchange tools and regional coordination mechanisms to enhance law enforcement capacity of member countries.

Representative of China Customs, Mr. Yang Xi – Director of the Anti-Smuggling Department, Xiamen Customs – expressed his thanks to Vietnam Customs, RILO AP and UNODC for their cooperation in organizing the Conference. He emphasized that Operation Mekong Dragon has become the "leading cooperation brand" in the Asia-Pacific region, an important tool to help countries coordinate closely and effectively suppress cross-border smuggling crimes. Mr. Yang Xi affirmed that phase 7 achieved many outstanding results in information exchange, arrest of criminals and technical capacity building.

Speaking at the Conference, representative of Vietnam Customs, Mr. Dang Van Duc affirmed the commitment of the Vietnamese Government to maintain close cooperation with customs of other countries and international organizations to prevent smuggling, drugs, illegal transportation of wildlife and transnational crimes. Vietnam is committed to continuing strong coordination, contributing to building a safe border, a stable region and sustainable development.

The task of combating smuggling in the current context has always been of concern to the Government leaders. Recently, the Government leaders issued Directive No. 13/CT-TTg on strengthening the fight against smuggling, trade fraud and counterfeit goods in the new situation. According to the Directive, the fight against smuggling must be carried out regularly, comprehensively and continuously, "without forbidden areas, without exceptions", with the motto "handling one case, alerting the whole region and the whole field".

In particular, the Directive requires increasing efficiency and creating breakthrough changes in anti-smuggling work associated with improving management capacity and clearly defining the responsibilities of each agency, avoiding omission of tasks. At the same time, ministries, branches and localities must proactively review mechanisms, policies, legal documents and urge their implementation to prevent, repel and eventually end smuggling, trade fraud and infringement of intellectual property rights.

Mr. Minh

Source: https://baochinhphu.vn/omd-7-hai-quan-cac-nuoc-siet-chat-phoi-hop-tran-ap-toi-pham-102251119221509354.htm