Officers of Unit 1 inspect infringing goods in the case of smuggling of over 65,000 test kits on March 17 and 18, 2022.

Speaking to Customs News, a representative of Unit 1 said that the smuggling and trade fraud in the first months of 2022 is still complicated in key areas, land, air and sea routes. The smuggled goods mainly are consumer goods, household appliances, cosmetics and alcohol.

Unit 1 has drastically taken custom control measures to promptly detect and handle violations. From the beginning of the year to the second half of May, Unit 1 has handled dozens of violations, including products listed in the CITES, banned goods and medical equipment for epidemic prevention and control with large quantities.

Notably, the unit has mobilized human resources and coordinated with relevant agencies to handle violations. Therefore, in the second half of May, the unit’s revenue reached over VND64 billion, meeting 915.26% compared with the target of 2022.

In addition, four cases investigated by the unit were prosecuted by the Anti-Smuggling and Investigation Department, meeting 100% compared with the target in 2022.

350kg of seahorses seized by Unit 1 and Hai Phong Customs on March 30 and 31, 2022.

It is forecast that in the near future, the smuggling and illegal transportation of goods across the border, trade fraud, tax evasion in the area still see development with sophisticated tricks.

In order to effectively prevent such acts, the unit has focused on seizing banned goods and goods affecting security and order, social safety, and handling origin fraud. It has also closely controlled shipments transferred from border, port and consignments temporarily imported for export, especially consumer goods and goods smuggled into the domestic market.

The Unit continues to strengthen the collection of information and grasping situations to handle cases of taking advantage of the Covid-19 pandemic to smuggle medicine, medical equipment and biological products for epidemic prevention and control.

The unit has also focused on inspecting and combating acts of abusing policies and procedures for refusal of goods receipt and re-export for smuggling; strengthened the fight against smuggling, trade fraud and fake goods in e-commerce activities.