The southern province's anti-crime forces and officers at My Quy Tay border gate found Nguyen Van Luy trying to illegally bring South Korean Jonghyeok- Chea, 23, into neighboring Cambodia.

Luy, 32, confessed to the police both had hired a taxi from Ho Chi Minh City to Long An before traveling to the border by motorbike. Long An shares a 132 kilometer border with Cambodia's Svay Rieng and Pray Veng provinces.

Since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, border guards in Long An have caught 46 people illegally entering Vietnam.

Speaking at a regular press meeting Monday, Chief of Office of the Ministry of Public Security, Major General To An Xo said the country has recently witnessed a rising number of illegal entries from neighboring countries, mainly China.

Since June, local public security forces and border guards have uncovered 21 cases involving the illegal entry of 177 Chinese nationals, launching five criminal investigations into 19 Vietnamese and several Chinese.

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc earlier ordered the Ministry of Public Security to investigate the illegal entry of foreigners to Vietnam, following confirmation of the first Covid-19 community transmission in 100 days on July 25.