Ho Chi Minh City’s market surveillance officials and police on March 3 seized one million medical masks of unknown origin at a warehouse on Luong The Vinh Street in Tan Phu district.

Illustrative image (Photo: dantri)

An official from the inspection team said that 400 boxes containing the masks were prepared to be loaded onto a bus to be sold abroad.

He said that after a period of monitoring, the team from HCM City’s Department of Market Surveillance cooperated with HCM City Police’s Economic Crime, Corruption and Smuggling Police Division on March 3 evening to check the warehouse.

He said among the seized masks, there were nine different types, all of unknown origin, and no invoices for the products.

Initially, the smugglers admitted purchasing the medical masks in the country, collecting them at the warehouse, then loading them onto a bus for sale abroad.

Further investigation is underway.

Meanwhile, police in the Mekong Delta province of An Giang have discovered two gangs smuggling face masks from Vietnam to Cambodia, seizing approximately 36,000 items.

Tran Tan Loi, head of the Vinh Xuong International Border Gate Customs Sub-Department, said the sub-department has cooperated with border forces to bust a smuggling ring in Tan Chau township.

At 7.10pm on March 3, the police were patrolling a trail in the town when they found suspect packages containing 320 boxes of face masks. The police seized the masks.

Previously, on March 2, customs officials of the Tinh Bien International Border Gate Customs Sub-Department pulled over a motorbike transporting boxes across the border without declaration. As many as 40 boxes of face masks were seized.

The motorbike driver, named Sam Nang, a Cambodian national, failed to show legal papers proving the origin of the products. He said he was hired to transport the cargo from Vietnam to Cambodia.