The Anti-Smuggling Investigation Department under the General Department of Customs has just decided to probe the case of smuggling foreign alcohol and foreign cigarettes on flights to “rescue” citizens from Russia to Vietnam during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Vietnam’s state-controlled media on November 12 said the decision to probe the case of “Illegal transportation of goods across the border” was made after nearly two years of investigation by the Customs agency into the illegal transportation of hundreds of bottles of foreign-made alcohol and tobacco from Russia to Vietnam. The case file was transferred to Khanh Hoa provincial Police Department for further investigation according to its competence.
According to the state media, on December 5, 2020, Team 2 (Anti-Smuggling Investigation Department) coordinated with Cam Ranh International Airport Border Gate Customs Branch (Khanh Hoa Customs Department), when inspecting the flight to rescue citizens bearing the number QH9195 from Moscow to home country, discovered more than 724 bottles of foreign wine of all kinds and 424 boxes of Heets cigarettes with a total value of nearly VND10 billion ($48,000).
The above row number is in the names of three people, including: passenger A.N.B.L. with 35 consignments containing 472 bottles of Macallan Double Cask 18 years old; six bottles of Macallan Rich Mahogany 25 years old; seven bottles of Beluga Transatlatic; three bottles of Chamgane Martini; 122 boxes of e-cigarettes Sold out.
H.T.G passengers have 19 pieces of checked baggage with 217 bottles of Macallan Double Cask 18 years old; seven bottles of Macallan Rich Mahogany 25 years old and 302 boxes of Heets cigarettes.
Passenger B.X.T has one piece of checked baggage with 12 bottles of Macallan Sherry CASK 18 years old.
Since the beginning of 2020, the Vietnamese government had conducted about 2,000 flights to “rescue” citizens from abroad during the pandemic, according to data from the Ministry of Public Security. However, earlier this year, a series of government officials and business leaders were probed and detained for violations related to bribery and giving bribes while organizing these “rescue” flights. The amount of bribes reported by the Ministry of Public Security is up to tens of billions of dong and hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Thoibao.de (Translated)
