11-04-2008AN GIANG — Renewed efforts to stop contraband cigarettes being imported from Cambodia are likely to prove ineffective as the authorities admit to losing control over the market.
A "hot spot" for smuggled cigarettes, the southern province of An Giang has become a thriving centre for traffickers.
On the 50km road connecting Long Xuyen City with the border town of Chau Doc, many motorbike drivers were found to be carrying large packages of cigarettes while speeding.
On average, each smuggler is able to carry about 200 cartons of cigarettes. Yet according to the deputy head of An Giang Province’s Market Watch, Phan Loi, those smuggling by water pose greater worries because they illegally import thousands of boxes at a time.
Similarly, in the neighbouring province of Kien Giang, contraband cigarettes are smuggled through border areas.
The head of Kien Giang Market Watch’s Research and General Affairs section, Pham Ngoc Toan, said motorbike drivers often doubled as cigarette carriers because they could easily avoid the eye of anti-contraband forces. Each motorbike usually carries two people, one driving and another carrying cigarettes.
Cigarette trafficking has become so rampant that participants at a recent conference reviewing the implementation of anti-contraband initiatives were told that nearly seven million packs of illegal cigarettes were confiscated between last June and this March.
About 49 cities and provinces have reported cigarette trafficking, but naturally, the phenomenon has been most rampant in border provinces. Contraband cigarettes now make up nearly 40 per cent of the total market share. And in the western and southern provinces, the figure reaches a staggering 80 per cent.
Chairman of the Viet Nam Cigarettes Association, Nguyen Thai Sinh, said cigarette trafficking was adversely effecting domestic production.
He said many local companies had been forced to cut their output to about half in the first quarter of this year. And up to VND3,000 billion (more than US$187 million) in taxes had been lost to cigarette smugglers.
Speaking at the conference, in HCM City last week, the head of Quang Tri Province’s Customs Office, Le Van Toi, admitted that border forces could do little to combat smugglers.
In an attempt to retrieve some lost taxes, the State has raised the special consumption tax on cigarettes from 55 to 65 per cent.
However, specialists believe the increase will do no more than create extra motivation for traffickers to import cigarettes illegally.
Quang Tri Province, which is adjacent to the Lao Bao border gate, confiscated more than 1.2 million packs of illegal cigarettes a year. An Giang Province ranks second with nearly 1.1 million packs.
Another factor believed to be creating favourable conditions for cigarette trafficking is that the State still allows people in border areas to buy goods worth VND2 million ($125) a day.
By doing so, chairman of the Viet Nam Cigarettes Association, Nguyen Thai Sinh, calculated that this helped put millions of packs of tax-free on the streets of Viet Nam daily.
Anti-contraband forces are also worried that no proper checks have been put on the buying of these cigarettes by border people. Therefore, it is easy for wheelers and dealers to lure poor border people into buying and selling cigarettes.
A senior official at An Giang Customs Office, Tran Buu Tai, said traffickers had intensified their operation since the Government issued a decree in September, 2006, stating that cigarettes were not a forbidden commodity.
This is why no criminal proceedings are taken against cigarette traffickers. Even when a person carries contraband cigarettes worth more than VND100 million ($6,250), no punishment is meted out.
Conference participants were concerned that contraband cigarettes will keep flooding the market if no drastic measures are taken. — VNS
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