Nearly 1 ton of western medicine worth more than 5 billion seized

May 11,Tan Son Nhat International Airport Customs Branch said it has just coordinated with the Department of Crime Prevention and Smuggling (C74) - Ministry of Public Security to seize a shipment of nearly 1 ton of smuggled Western medicine.

Seized shipment - Photo provided by Customs

The shipment was declared by Con Ong Transport Joint Stock Company (39B Truong Son, Ward 4, Tan Binh District) as a modern medicine item including 41 packages (nearly 500 thousand special medicine pills of various types such as Xatral XL 10mg, Nexium 40mg, Synatthen Depot, Aughentin...) weighing nearly 1 ton worth nearly 5 billion VND, from Turkey transiting at Tan Son Nhat airport, then will be shipped to Cambodia via Moc Bai international border gate (Tay Ninh).

After completing transit procedures, the shipment is sealed and transported by truck to Cambodia. Upon arrival at Moc Bai border gate, the shipment is unsealed for delivery.

Suspecting that this was a trick of the business to bypass the authorities to smuggle the above goods into Vietnam through unofficial channels, the department took professional measures to notify and coordinate with C74 to closely monitor.

At dawn on May 9, 2017, the authorities discovered a truck carrying the above shipment following a trail back to Vietnam and arrested it.

This is the first time authorities have discovered a large shipment of Western medicine transiting through an airport for smuggling into the country.

Recently, some people have taken advantage of the transit route to Cambodia for smuggling. This is a new smuggling method.

The Customs Department has coordinated with other units to strengthen inspection and strictly control this route, detecting and arresting many smuggling cases.

According to Tuoi Tre