VCN – After the Customs authority implemented administrative violations, seized exhibits of violations and handed over vehicles to ship owners, the CHUNG CHING ship showed signs of illegally entering Vietnam to be dismantled for scrap.
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| CHUNG CHING is seized by Fleet 1 |
On November 12, the leader of the Customs Enforcement Team (Hai Phong Customs Department) said that the unit was coordinating with Hai Phong Border Guard to investigate the case that the CHUNG CHING vessel showed signs of illegal entry into Vietnam for dismantling.
At the beginning of November, Customs forces and Hai Phong Border Guards inspected the area of Kinh Mon river, which runs through Trai Kenh village, Dai Ban commune, An Duong district (Hai Phong). Competent force detected the Chung Ching ship flying the flag of the Palau island, with signs of illegal entry into the Hai Phong seaport area.
Notably, CHUNG CHING ship was a vehicle that transported more than 3 million packs of smuggled cigarettes, seized by the Northern Customs Marine Enforcement Fleet (Fleet 1, Anti-Smuggling and Investigation Department, General Department of Vietnam Customs) in March 2020.
“After the investigation and verification, more than a month ago, Customs authority implemented administrative violations, confiscated all exhibits of violations and handed over the ship and crew to the shipowner in accordance with the regulations,” the leader of Fleet 1 added when talking to Customs News.
Regarding the smuggling case of more than three million packs of cigarettes, at dawn on March 19, 2020, in the waters of the Gulf of Tonkin, Fleet 1 discovered that CHUNG CHING ship (PaLau nationality) was floating and illegally transshipped cigarettes to speedboats. Those speedboats did not have numbers in order to smuggle the goods into the domestic market.
When detecting the anti-smuggling force, the speedboats immediately cut the anchor lines and fled, the captain of the CHUNG CHING ship also immediately sped up to buoy No.0 heading to sea.
Although the patrol boat of the Customs force sent a signal to stop the ship for inspection, the suspects still escaped, disobeying orders, forcing officers and soldiers on the patrol boat to fire warning shots.
At the time of inspection, according to the declaration of the captain of CHUNG CHING ship, there were 22 foreign crew members on board, transporting about 8,549 bales, equivalent to 4.274 million cigarettes of all kinds, including brands of 555 cigarettes, ESSI, YUXI, DOUBLE.
Through the results of the inspection, it was identified that the suspects on the ship had transshipped about 2,000 packages of cigarettes to five speedboats (equivalent to 1 million bags), the remaining number of cigarettes on the ship was about 6,549 bales, equivalent to 3.274 million packs of cigarettes of all kinds.
Recognizing the achievements of Fleet 1, on January 28, 2021, the President issued Decision 95/QD-CTN awarding the Victory Medal to the Fleet 1 and the Third Class Victory Medal to Dao Xuan Thanh, Head of Fleet 1.
In addition, three other individuals of Fleet 1 were awarded certificates of merit by the Prime Minister (according to Decision 74/QD-TTg dated January 18, 2021) – Nguyen Hong Hai, Vu Truong Thao and Dang Tuan Anh.
By Thái Bình/Thanh Thuy