Part I: Smuggled cattle crossing the border through the forest

• November 8, 2011 15:19

(Baonghean)On average, hundreds of cattle are herded by local people along unofficial border crossings near the Nam Can border gate every day. Then, with just a few "tricks," these cattle are easily legalized as local livestock and transported further south, while the foot-and-mouth disease outbreak continues to be a complex issue.

Cattle crossing the border.

In mid-October, we went to the Nam Can border gate (Ky Son district). It was midday when we finally reached Tien Tieu village (about 2km from the border gate). There, we saw herds of buffalo and cattle gathered on both sides of the road. Some were being loaded onto trucks; they all looked plump and well-fed. Vu Pa Re revealed: "Those are Lao cattle." Thinking we were "big spenders," Rê excitedly said, "We have to go all the way to Xieng Khouang and Vientiane (Laos) to buy them. It takes a whole week, and on lucky days we might buy a dozen. As soon as we get them across the border, the middlemen send trucks to pick them up. It sounds easy, but the journey is very arduous; we have to trek through forests and streams, and leeches and ticks bite us until we're swollen. The cattle traders all herd their cattle back and gather them at the village of Din Dam (Nong Het district, Laos), then continue herding them through the forest along the roads on either side of the Nam Can border gate..."

Posing as potential buyers of cattle for slaughter and resale, we approached Mr. Lau Ba Gi (Tien Tieu village, Nam Can commune, Ky Son district). Mr. Gi recounted: "There are a lot of cattle over there, selling for 10-20 million dong per animal. Because they don't have enough money, relatives and friends pool their capital to buy them, each contributing around 20-30 million dong. Many people who don't have money hire themselves out to herd cattle for the traders, earning 60-100 thousand dong per animal after crossing the border. After the cattle are brought in, the traders select the animals and negotiate the price. Once both sides agree, the cattle are gathered along the roadside, waiting for enough to be transported. Each gathering point holds 15 to 30 cattle, each marked with a unique code and symbol belonging to a specific trader."

When we expressed our intention to go to Laos to buy cattle to resell, Mr. Gi discouraged us: "Only we Hmong people know the way and the language well. You guys just stay here and wait for the goods to be brought back." Nam Can commune has three villages (Tien Tieu, Truong Son, and Huech Poc) where the majority of the Hmong people are involved in the cattle trading business. Thanks to this profession, many households have become prosperous.

According to local residents, the Nam Can border gate is the largest supplier of cattle in Central Vietnam. The majority of the cattle are supplied to northern provinces, with many shipments even reaching Ho Chi Minh City. Each cattle weighing 80 to 100 kg costs between 12 and 16 million VND. Each truck carries 15 to 20 cattle, and during peak seasons, they can earn a profit of 10 to 20 million VND.

We followed some Hmong people who were hired to herd cattle to several other "gathering" locations. Here, the cattle were fenced off in areas, each area holding from a few dozen to over 50 animals. We saw several cars already full of cattle with their engines running. The entire process of herding cattle across the border and loading them onto trucks was very open, and no authorities seemed to be checking on anything.



People are herding buffalo and cattle openly without any inspection from the authorities.



Cattle are gathered on both sides of the road, waiting for dealers from the lowlands to come and transport them back.

Lao cattle are "transformed" into Vietnamese cattle.

Lầu Bá Gì “sets the price”: “You can buy as many buffaloes and cows as you want, but to be trustworthy, you have to put down a deposit of 500,000 to 1 million dong per animal.” “What if, upon arriving in Mường Xén town, the authorities inspect and discover the buffaloes and cows are of unknown origin?” we asked. Lầu Bá Thái (Huếch Pốc village, Nậm Cắn commune), a professional cattle herder, laughed: “As long as you have a sales document with the seal and signature of the commune chairman, you can take them down to the lowlands without being caught.”

Mr. Nguyen The Do - Head of the Veterinary Department of Nghe An Province
The terrain along the border between Laos and the border districts of Nghe An province, especially the key area of ​​Nam Can commune, Ky Son district, is quite favorable for the small-scale smuggling of buffalo and cattle from across the Lao border into Nghe An. This makes it easy for traders to take advantage of the situation to gather, evade quarantine, and transport them at night.
Meanwhile, the veterinary force is too small and lacks the authority to stop transport vehicles on the roads; the coordination among functional agencies is not tight, and the import of buffalo and cattle from Laos is not controlled, making quarantine implementation even more difficult.

Then Lầu Bá Thái explained to us in detail: "Once both sides agree on the price, the seller of the cow will write a sales agreement for the buyer. Once you have the sales agreement, you take it to the commune office for stamping and confirmation. The commune charges a fee of about 25,000 dong per cow, or they may charge per vehicle (around 150,000 dong per small vehicle, 200,000 dong per large vehicle). This is the 'pass' to 'bypass' the checkpoints of the authorities. It's ridiculous that, due to forged documents, some Hmong families here couldn't make ends meet, yet they signed sales agreements for hundreds of cows in seven months."

Regarding the issue of people crossing the border to buy cattle for resale, Mr. Ho Chong Nhia, Chairman of the People's Committee of Nam Can commune, acknowledged: "The trading of buffalo and cattle has been going on for a long time and has become a custom and tradition. Of the four villages in the commune, three are inhabited by the Mong people, and some people go to Laos to buy buffalo and cattle to resell through unofficial border crossings and mountain trails." Regarding the question of whether the commune "facilitates" the resale of these cattle by stamping and certifying them as local, Mr. Nhia stated: "The commune only stamps the cattle after confirmation from the village head that they are local. The money collected by the commune is for parking fees; 100,000 VND for small vehicles and 150,000 VND for large vehicles. This money is based on a target set by the district and is deposited into the Treasury at the end of the year. In 2011, Nam Can commune was assigned a target of 36 million VND by the district, but so far we have only collected nearly 25 million VND."

Mr. Nhia further added: "On average, Nam Can commune sells about 20 buffaloes and cows per day. Currently, Nam Can commune has 723 households, but the number of buffaloes and cows in the commune reaches 4,000." Thus, on average, each household raises 5-7 buffaloes and cows, several times more than in communes in the lowlands. However, when asked about the poverty rate in the commune, Mr. Nhia stated that 95% of households in the commune are classified as poor.

We observed the Nam Can border gate area for nearly a day but did not see any authorities come to inspect the origin or quarantine of the cattle. A leader of the Nam Can Border Gate Customs Sub-department said: "Cattle usually travel through unofficial routes from Laos, but when inspected, all of them are confirmed by the local authorities as local cattle. The Sub-department has seized many cases but had to release them. Distinguishing between Lao cattle and cattle raised by local people is very difficult. Therefore, ending the illegal cattle trade across the border is not easy."

At the Nam Can border gate, there is an animal quarantine station (belonging to the regional veterinary agency 3). When we arrived for work, the station was deserted. According to people nearby, normally only one officer named Hanh is on duty and stationed there. However, Mr. Hanh has gone back to the lowlands and may not return for a few more days.

The illegal trade and transportation of cattle across the border in large quantities in Nam Can commune is not being strictly controlled. The outbreak of diseases among cattle is unavoidable. The province and relevant agencies need to quickly implement effective solutions to prevent smuggled cattle from entering through the Nam Can border gate, avoiding the spread of disease once these animals have been "registered" as Vietnamese citizens.
(to be continued)

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