Silent 'double wars' at the border

The silent wars

Since 2020, the Covid-19 epidemic has broken out in many localities ofVietnam and Laos, so the two countries have almost stopped activities at border gates, trails, and openings. However, violations by citizens of both sides still occur on the border lines, especially crimes related to drug trafficking, illegal transportation, and illegal immigration.

For example, most recently, on December 23, the working group of Na Ngoi Border Guard Station (Ky Son) coordinated with local police forces to discover and arrest Xong Nenh Thong, born in 1980, residing in Buoc Mu village, who was committing the act ofillegal drug trafficking. Seized evidence included 52.79 grams of heroin and 19.19 grams of crystal meth.

The commander of Na Ngoi Border Guard Station said that this subject is a long-term drug addict, very cunning and often takes advantage of the rugged mountainous terrain to secretly cross between the two sides.Vietnam - Laos borderin order to commit drug crimes. The task force had to follow and lie in wait for many days before they could arrest Xong Nenh Thong. When he was arrested, Thong even used a knife to fight back against the authorities.

Officers and soldiers of Na Ngoi Border Guard Station patrol to protect border markers. Photo: Hoai Thu.

To detect and handle such daring criminals at the border, the authorities had to go through many hard and dangerous days and nights, silently monitoring, lying in wait, and gathering information before "fighting the case".

Nghe An has nearly 500km of border with Laos, so controlling activities, minimizing and strictly handling violations of the border regulations signed between Vietnam and Laos, especially drug crimes, is always a priority for the force.border guards(BĐBP), police of border districts closely follow the area, detect and strictly handle violations.

Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Van Hau - Political Commissar of the Provincial Border Guard said: In 2021, the force presided over and coordinated the arrest and prosecution of 112 cases/156 subjects; coordinated with other functional forces to arrest 71 cases/105 subjects violating border regulations. Of which: 32 drug crimes/39 subjects, seized evidence of 21 cakes and 27.04 grams of Heroin, 92,111 pills and 1,795.23 grams of synthetic drugs in the form of pink tablets, 73.37 grams of opium and many other related evidences; 08 kg of Ketamine, many evidences of guns, bullets, and other vehicles.

Not only controlling and handling violations of drug trafficking, storage and transportation, the Border Guard force also established additional checkpoints to control people passing through border gates, trails and openings, preventing illegal entry and exit. Violations of illegal crossings on both sides of the border often occur, especially at night, in dangerous areas, forcing the authorities to exert all their efforts to control. For example, on December 25, the border protection and epidemic prevention checkpoint force in Huoi Moi village, Tri Le commune, Tri Le Border Guard Station discovered a subject illegally entering Vietnam from Laos. This subject took advantage of remote trails and openings, near national border marker 376 on the Vietnam - Laos border to secretly enter the country illegally, causing the risk of spreading the epidemic as well as other criminal activities.

In 2021, the border guards detected and handled 83 cases/203 subjects for acts of brokerage, transportation of illegal immigrants, illegal border crossing. Of which, 04 cases/06 subjects were prosecuted, fined 394.4 million VND, and 148 cases were quarantined.

Strengthening coordination work

The Agreement on Border Management Regulations and Land Border Gates between the Government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and the Government of the Lao People's Democratic Republic signed on March 16, 2016 aims to help the functional forces on both sides of the Vietnam - Laos border manage, control and handle violations related to the border area.

For Nghe An province, with 468,281 km of national land border adjacent to the provinces of Hua Phan, Xieng Khouang and Bolykhamxay of Laos, border management and cooperation between the two sides have always been given attention, promoted and effectively implemented in many aspects.

To make this work effective, the forces, mainly the Border Guard, always identify the importance of coordination between the forces and local authorities. Every year, this work is evaluated, lessons learned and the most effective solutions are sought to improve implementation efficiency.

Officers and soldiers of the Border Management and Epidemic Prevention Post in Huoi Moi village, Tri Le commune (Que Phong) coordinate with the police force and the commune militia to patrol and protect border security. Photo: Hoai Thu.

Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Van Hau said that in addition to arranging dozens of working groups and hundreds of officers and soldiers to go to the area to propagate to the people, the border force also maintains 34 fixed posts, 18 mobile control teams with 400 officers and soldiers; 23 interception teams, 46 working groups, border control stations, military and civilian medical stations combined with 379 comrades regularly staying in the area to manage and protect the border and sea areas, combining the work of preventing and fighting the Covid-19 epidemic.

In addition, the force also received and transported 1,808 Vietnamese and 499 Lao people to the province's centralized quarantine areas. In addition to the border guard force, through the coordination regulations between the Provincial Border Guard Command and 11 border districts, localities have deployed and effectively maintained the operations of 84 border and boundary marker self-management teams with 498 participants; 716 teams, 3,959 people self-managing village (hamlet) security; 62 safe boat teams, 18 safe wharves.

Recognizing the high efficiency in coordination work, at the recent conference to evaluate and draw lessons between the Provincial Border Guard Party Committee and 11 border districts, the localities continued to request the Border Guard force to coordinate with the border guard stations and Party committees and authorities of border and coastal communes and wards to step up propaganda and mobilization work, raise awareness and responsibility of the masses in complying with the Party's guidelines and policies, the State's policies and laws; the agreements, treaties, border regulations and agreements signed between Vietnam and Laos.

At the same time, coordinate with local forces and border protection forces of 03 neighboring provinces (Laos) to strengthen patrolling, control, handling and resolving incidents occurring in border areas and sea areas, especially activities violating the agreement on border regulations. The focus is on coordinating the implementation of the Movement "All people participate in preventing and fighting Covid-19 and illegal entry and exit" in 58 communes and wards with 69,958 households signing the implementation. In 2021, after the border guards donated and installed 212 mailboxes to denounce illegal entry and exit to hamlets and villages, people in the border area discovered, denounced and provided many sources of information for localities and functional forces to fight and prevent violations.

Officers and soldiers of border posts along the sea border propagate to fishermen to properly implement measures to prevent and control the Covid-19 epidemic and coordinate to protect the sea border. Photo: Document

“In 2022, the Border Guard force will continue to coordinate leadership and direction to effectively implement the "dual task", both performing the political tasks of the locality and unit, andCovid-19 prevention and control. Coordinate to advise the Provincial People's Committee and relevant agencies to carry out the procedures for opening new border gates, upgrading border gates and speeding up the implementation of related contents. At the same time, the force will also coordinate to effectively implement Decree No. 03/2019/ND-CP, dated September 5, 2019 of the Government on coordination between the Ministry of Public Security and the Ministry of National Defense in performing the task of protecting national security, ensuring social order and safety and national defense tasks in the new situation" - the Political Commissar of the Provincial Border Guard affirmed.