Many importcases of old, dirty gloves from China to Cat Lai port have been detected by HCM City Customs Department at the border gate in a timely manner, avoiding the potential risk of diseases entering Vietnam.

A shipment of old rubber gloves imported by Saigon Trading Group Product and
Import - Export Medical Equipment Co., Ltd. was seized by Customs at Cat Lai port.
Photo: T.H 

Tones of imported dirty gloves

HCM City Customs has detected and prevented many shipments of used and dirty gloves from China to Vietnam since the end of 2020. On May 17at Cat Lai port, Saigon port zone 1 Customs Branch inspected acontainer of goods imported from China for false customs declaration. The shipment was imported by VHC Global Co., Ltd (9th floor of K&M Building, 33 Ung Van Khiem, BinhThanh district, HCMCity) inthe customs declaration.

The goods were declared nearly 15 tonnes of household rubber gloves rather than medical gloves, unbranded, 100% new, imported from China. Through physical inspection, Customs found that all gloves in the container were separated, crumpled, dirty, mouldy, stained, unbranded and packed in hundreds of unlabelled polypropylene sacks. They were likely used medical gloves.

At the end of 2020, at Cat Lai port, Saigon port zone 1 Customs Branch workedwith the Southern Anti-Smuggling Enforcement Team (Anti-Smuggling Investigation Department) to inspect and identify two containers of used rubber gloves. The shipment was imported by Saigon Trading Group Product and Import - Export Medical Equipment Co., Ltd.

Inthe customs declaration, the goods were gloves used in kitchen unbranded, 100% new and imported from China. Upon physical inspection, Customs discovered that the goods were rubber gloves of all kinds which are second-hand, crumpled, dirty, mouldy, unbranded and stored in unmarkedcartons.

Amid the Covid-19 pandemic, the importation of the above shipment of used rubber gloves will be very dangerous, because this is a tool for disease prevention andvery easy to be a source of spread of diseases if they are not prevented in time, according toHCM City Customs Department.

Dirty gloves containing impurities imported by VHC Global Co., Ltd

Psychiatric director?

The two companies importing the above-mentioned shipments of dirty gloves were newly established. Saigon Trading Group Product and Import - Export Medical Equipment Co., Ltd wasestablished and started operation from October 8, 2020 and has not operated at its registered business address. The company imported the two containers of old and dirty gloves inlateOctober 2020.

After the shipment was seized by the Customs, 2020, Tran Thi Be, on December 16, reported as the birth mother of Tran Long Quan, born on April 18, 1987, Director of Saigon Trading Group Product and Import - Export Medical Equipment Co., Ltd, and worked with the Saigon port zone 1 Customs Branch at the custom office. Be said that about 10 days ago Quan returned home in a panic. Through finding out information from his friends and family, discovering that Quan was entangled with a shipment of imported old gloves at Cat Lai port. Quan said he worked with a person named A Buu and was tricked to bring the dirty goods to Vietnam.

Be presented to the Customs agency a certificate No. 63/2020/VPYTW/KHTH of the Bien Hoa National Institute of Forensic Psychiatry dated December 11, 2020 about Quan's condition and a certificate of discharge with the patient's name of the Bien Hoa National Institute of Forensic Psychiatry.

According to Be, Quan told her that the above shipment was imported by a person named A Buu who used the legal status of the company to perform the importation and Quan did not know the goods were dirty gloves.

Similarly, VHC Global Co., Ltd., named on the import declaration of the above-mentioned glove shipment, was licensed by the HCM City Department of Planning and Investment for establishment and operation since January 2021.

After the establishment, the firmopened the import declaration of the shipment as mentioned above; the declared value was more than VND1.8 billion. According to the Saigon port zone 1 Customs Branch, this is the first import shipment fromVHC Global Co., Ltd at Cat Lai port and was seized for violations.

Regarding the importsof used rubber gloves of Saigon Trading Group Product and Import - Export Medical Equipment Co., Ltd, the Anti-Smuggling and Investigation Department under the General Department of Customs transferred the case to the Supreme People's Procuracyfor criminal prosecution.