Smugglers use rivers and roads to traffic petrol from the southern province of An Giang to Cambodia.Saturday, July 12, 2008
THANHNIEN
Several routes in the southern border provinces have become major supply lines for petrol and cigarette smuggling between Vietnam and Cambodia.
Price differences in the two commodities between the neighboring countries have increased demand and made the illegal trade more lucrative.
During June, gasoline prices in Cambodia grew 70 percent higher than in Vietnam, said Ngo Xuan Truong, director of Vietnamese Germadept Cambodia Transportation Company.
The price of 10 pack cartons of some cigarettes in Vietnam were around VND10,000 (US$0.60) higher than in the neighboring country.
Cambodian cigarettes
Cigarettes are being smuggled along the roads and rivers connecting the provinces of Tay Ninh and Long An, including road No. 825, road No. 823, National Highway No. 22 and Thay Cai Canal.
They then pass through the bordering areas to Go Dau District in Tay Ninh and Duc Hue and Moc Hoa Districts in Long An Province.
Smugglers use motorcycles to transfer the cigarettes to a transit point at My Hanh Bac Commune in Long An’s Duc Hoa District, and take them to HCMC’s cigarette markets on the streets of Truong Chinh, Hoc Lac and Tran Quoc Toan.
Vietnamese petrol
Petrol smugglers are bamboozling authorities with a wide variety of tricks to get the fuel over the border.
Most petrol smugglers come from local provinces.
Farmers, for instance, are lured by the easy money after harvest.
“A man can get VND50,000 ($3) for carrying a can 500 meters through the border,” a smuggler spoke on condition of anonymity.
“Meanwhile, pay for a day’s labor is some VND35,000 ($2.10).”
“The smugglers are becoming more numerous and inventive,” saidan official at Tay Ninh’s Chang Riec border post.
“They have even sent someone to follow us and inform them about our raids.”
In a recent bust on petrol smugglers, the border inspectors were divided into groups for secret raids.
One group stopped one smuggler but he dumped the petrol cans and managed to escape with his motorbike.
Another group caught Khum Vuot from Cambodia’s Kampong Cham Province, trying to smuggle 300 liters of petrol in 10 cans.
In the provinces of Long An and Dong Thap, smugglers often use motor boats to carry petrol through the web of rivers and canals in the area.
They use canals T7 and T9 and Cai Co and Bien Gioi rivers, said an official from Long An’s Ben Pho Border Post.
If chased, they are always ready to throw cans of petrol into the river to block the waterway, he said.
Big operation
Local authorities in Tay Ninh, Long An and Dong Thap provinces have enforced temporary measures to fight petrol smuggling including putting a limit on the amount of petrol stations can buy from petrol companies.
They also banned stations from selling petrol directly into plastic containers.
It helped decrease the cross border trade for a short time until the smugglers found new ways – buying petrol from stations further from the border.
Some stations near the border, however, were ready to put petrol into cans – with a higher price than listed – any time the inspectors weren’t around.
“The smugglers even designed modified petrol tank for tractors, which could contain up to 300 liters, to buy petrol from the stations,” said Le Van Tho, a resident living near Tay Ninh’s Xa Mat Border Gate.
“They transfer the petrol into 30-liter plastic cans to carry across the border. Each motorcycle can carry over five cans of petrol.”
“They often go in groups and spread out on tracks through the cashew forests if they get chased by authorities,” he said.
The border guards of Tay Ninh Province, in cooperation with the provincial police, have seized nearly 10,000 liters of smuggled petrol during the first six months of this year.
They also recently stopped a truck carrying 2,000 liters of petrol at Chang Riec Border Gate in Tan Bien District.
The authorities responsible for smuggling control are the market watchdog, economic police, border customs and border guards.
There is little cooperation between the different agencies, however, and the border guards play the main role.
The border customs are busy at the border gates while economic police only make occasional busts on major smuggling rings.
The market watchdog works mostly in administration and blames a lack of personnel for their ineffectiveness on the ground.
“Long An has over 130 kilometers of borderline with Cambodia,” said Nguyen Van Minh, head of the Long An market watchdog.
“The provincial market watchdog has only eight officials. It’s hard to control the smuggling.”
Minh also said the border guards in the province seized over 7,000 liters of petrol in June, but the market watchdog hadn’t seized any.
“We have a list of suspected petrol stations in the border area,” he said.
“But we haven’t revoked any licenses. We didn’t catch them red-handed.”
Minh also refused to comment on a rumor about illegal deals between the petrol stations and some local officials.
THANHNIEN
Several routes in the southern border provinces have become major supply lines for petrol and cigarette smuggling between Vietnam and Cambodia.
Price differences in the two commodities between the neighboring countries have increased demand and made the illegal trade more lucrative.
During June, gasoline prices in Cambodia grew 70 percent higher than in Vietnam, said Ngo Xuan Truong, director of Vietnamese Germadept Cambodia Transportation Company.
The price of 10 pack cartons of some cigarettes in Vietnam were around VND10,000 (US$0.60) higher than in the neighboring country.
Cambodian cigarettes
Cigarettes are being smuggled along the roads and rivers connecting the provinces of Tay Ninh and Long An, including road No. 825, road No. 823, National Highway No. 22 and Thay Cai Canal.
They then pass through the bordering areas to Go Dau District in Tay Ninh and Duc Hue and Moc Hoa Districts in Long An Province.
Smugglers use motorcycles to transfer the cigarettes to a transit point at My Hanh Bac Commune in Long An’s Duc Hoa District, and take them to HCMC’s cigarette markets on the streets of Truong Chinh, Hoc Lac and Tran Quoc Toan.
Vietnamese petrol
Petrol smugglers are bamboozling authorities with a wide variety of tricks to get the fuel over the border.
Most petrol smugglers come from local provinces.
Farmers, for instance, are lured by the easy money after harvest.
“A man can get VND50,000 ($3) for carrying a can 500 meters through the border,” a smuggler spoke on condition of anonymity.
“Meanwhile, pay for a day’s labor is some VND35,000 ($2.10).”
“The smugglers are becoming more numerous and inventive,” saidan official at Tay Ninh’s Chang Riec border post.
“They have even sent someone to follow us and inform them about our raids.”
In a recent bust on petrol smugglers, the border inspectors were divided into groups for secret raids.
One group stopped one smuggler but he dumped the petrol cans and managed to escape with his motorbike.
Another group caught Khum Vuot from Cambodia’s Kampong Cham Province, trying to smuggle 300 liters of petrol in 10 cans.
In the provinces of Long An and Dong Thap, smugglers often use motor boats to carry petrol through the web of rivers and canals in the area.
They use canals T7 and T9 and Cai Co and Bien Gioi rivers, said an official from Long An’s Ben Pho Border Post.
If chased, they are always ready to throw cans of petrol into the river to block the waterway, he said.
Big operation
Local authorities in Tay Ninh, Long An and Dong Thap provinces have enforced temporary measures to fight petrol smuggling including putting a limit on the amount of petrol stations can buy from petrol companies.
They also banned stations from selling petrol directly into plastic containers.
It helped decrease the cross border trade for a short time until the smugglers found new ways – buying petrol from stations further from the border.
Some stations near the border, however, were ready to put petrol into cans – with a higher price than listed – any time the inspectors weren’t around.
“The smugglers even designed modified petrol tank for tractors, which could contain up to 300 liters, to buy petrol from the stations,” said Le Van Tho, a resident living near Tay Ninh’s Xa Mat Border Gate.
“They transfer the petrol into 30-liter plastic cans to carry across the border. Each motorcycle can carry over five cans of petrol.”
“They often go in groups and spread out on tracks through the cashew forests if they get chased by authorities,” he said.
The border guards of Tay Ninh Province, in cooperation with the provincial police, have seized nearly 10,000 liters of smuggled petrol during the first six months of this year.
They also recently stopped a truck carrying 2,000 liters of petrol at Chang Riec Border Gate in Tan Bien District.
The authorities responsible for smuggling control are the market watchdog, economic police, border customs and border guards.
There is little cooperation between the different agencies, however, and the border guards play the main role.
The border customs are busy at the border gates while economic police only make occasional busts on major smuggling rings.
The market watchdog works mostly in administration and blames a lack of personnel for their ineffectiveness on the ground.
“Long An has over 130 kilometers of borderline with Cambodia,” said Nguyen Van Minh, head of the Long An market watchdog.
“The provincial market watchdog has only eight officials. It’s hard to control the smuggling.”
Minh also said the border guards in the province seized over 7,000 liters of petrol in June, but the market watchdog hadn’t seized any.
“We have a list of suspected petrol stations in the border area,” he said.
“But we haven’t revoked any licenses. We didn’t catch them red-handed.”
Minh also refused to comment on a rumor about illegal deals between the petrol stations and some local officials.
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