More than 170,000 liters of smuggled oil discovered at sea

The Coast Guard Region 4 Command seized two fishing boats smuggling 67,000 liters of DO oil in the southwestern sea; about 110,000 liters of other smuggled oil were discovered by the Border Guard in Vung Tau.

Patrol force of Coast Guard Region 4 Command inspects oil smuggling ship on October 26. Photo:Coast Guard provided

The Coast Guard Region 4 Command said that late on October 26, in the southwestern sea, in the Tho Chu archipelago, 13 nautical miles from Phu Quoc city, the patrol force discovered a fishing boat captained by Mr. Huynh Chi Thanh (62 years old), showing suspicious signs. Upon inspection, the authorities discovered that the boat was carrying 45,000 liters of DO oil of unknown origin.

Previously, also in this sea area, patrol forces temporarily detained the fishing boat of Huynh Van Vu, 32 years old, who was transporting about 22,000 liters of DO oil without legal documents.

Statistics show that since the beginning of the year, the Command of Coast Guard Region 4 has seized more than 1.8 million liters of DO oil, sold it to the state budget for over 36 billion VND; and at the same time imposed administrative fines of nearly 2 billion VND.

In Ba Ria - Vung Tau, the Border Guard has just discovered a fishing boat with a registration number of Tien Giang province carrying about 110,000 liters of DO oil while passing through the sea area 82 nautical miles southeast of Vung Tau cape. Captain Tran Van Pho (54 years old) could not present any documents.

Recently, the Border Guard force of Ba Ria - Vung Tau province has arrested 11 cases with more than 815,000 liters of smuggled oil.