Strengthening cooperation and early detection of transnational smuggling rings

Following the success of the Mekong Dragon Campaign series, and in accordance with the directives of the Prime Minister and the Ministry of Finance , the General Department of Customs continues to implement the Mekong Dragon Campaign 6 in 2024 with the following focus: Elevating and expanding the scale of the campaign, strengthening information sharing activities, and cooperating in post-arrest investigations to detect transnational smuggling and illegal trafficking networks of drugs and wildlife.

Vietnamese Customs and other participants attended the opening ceremony of the Mekong Dragon Campaign VI.

To date, Operation OMD 6 has received the consent of 25 customs agencies and law enforcement agencies and international organizations (including 20 customs agencies and 5 international organizations).

The General Department of Customs also chaired and coordinated with C04 and C05 to organize and implement the Mekong Dragon Campaign 6 throughout the entire customs sector. Activities within the framework of the Campaign, planned to be implemented by the General Department of Customs, include: organizing seminars and specialized training courses for the entire sector, participating in and coordinating group meetings, joint investigations, and key team activities aimed at analyzing, collecting information, and conducting investigations…

Operation Mekong Dragon (OMD) is a series of joint action campaigns between customs agencies and other law enforcement agencies in the Asia- Pacific region to combat the illicit trafficking of narcotics, wildlife, and wildlife products listed in CITES across all routes. It was jointly initiated and launched in 2018 by Vietnam Customs and China Customs with technical support from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the Regional Intelligence Liaison Office for Asia-Pacific (RILO AP - WCO).

To date, the Campaign has completed five phases (from 2018 to 2023), achieving significant results. The Campaign has been recognized by RILO AP and international law enforcement organizations as one of the most successful surveillance campaigns in the Asia- Pacific region in terms of the number of participating members and the number of cases updated to the Campaign's shared information system.

Through the mechanism of the Campaign, a great deal of intelligence information has been exchanged between countries, contributing to the successful seizure of many large-scale smuggling and illegal trafficking cases involving drugs, wild animals, and plants.

Since 2022, the Mekong Dragon Campaign has been officially included in the Vietnam-China Joint Statement during General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong's official visit to China. In 2023, the Campaign was further included in the joint statement between the two countries (Point (3), Section 4.3) with the content: "...continue to deepen cooperation on law enforcement against smuggling, promote coordinated action to enforce international law, and achieve more results in the 'Mekong Dragon' Campaign".

Recently, the General Department of Customs, in coordination with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), successfully organized the opening conference for the 6th phase of Operation Mekong Dragon in Ho Chi Minh City. The conference was attended by 64 domestic and international delegates (including international delegates from customs agencies of 16 countries and 4 international law enforcement organizations; Vietnamese delegates included representatives from the Drug Crime Investigation Police Department C04 and the Environmental Crime Prevention and Control Police Department C05 of the Ministry of Public Security, delegates from the Anti-Smuggling Investigation Department, and several units under the General Department of Customs).

The conference marked the official launch of the Campaign in the Asia-Pacific region. The conference agenda included announcing the implementation of activities within the framework of Campaign OMD 6, exchanging and sharing experiences among countries in enforcing measures against the illegal trade and trafficking of wildlife (CITES) and narcotics, and training in skills for collecting, managing, exchanging, analyzing information, and conducting investigations to support the deployment of Red Teams within the Campaign.

Source: https://congthuong.vn/tang-cuong-hop-tac-phat-hien-som-cac-duong-day-xuyen-quoc-gia-buon-lau-325957.html