Vietnamese authorities are investigating how 229 kilograms of heroin was able to pass through Ho Chi Minh City customs undetected only to be busted when the contraband reached Taiwan. Ten days ago, Taiwanese authorities at Taoyuan International Airport found the heroin with a street value estimated at $380 million. The drugs were hidden in 12 empty stereo speakers, each of which contained 50 packages of heroin coated with chocolate paste in order to fool detection dogs.  The package was sent from Ho Chi Minh City’s Tan Son Nhat airport. According to an official at the Tan Son Nhat International Airport’s Air Security Center, the case is being investigated by Vietnam Customs and the Ministry of Public Security’s Anti-Drug Crime Prevention and Control Department. The official also said that the airport’s customs force, not security force, is responsible for checking goods entering and leaving Vietnam. He, however, said that effective inspection of goods is related to many factors, including the inspection process and equipment used.   According to a Tuoi Tre source, the consignor of the shipment was LH Freight Forwarding Company, but as it has yet to sign a contract with China Airlines, it had KL Freight Forwarding Company, a business partner of the airline, arrange with China Airlines to send the shipment.

As a result, the shipment was sent by LH through KL on a China Airlines plane at 8:05 pm on November 14. It consisted of 12 cartons weighing 400 kg in total.Inspection system not effective? A male executive at a goods transport company in Tan Binh District, HCMC, said all goods must undergo a strict inspection process at the airport before they can be sent abroad. “Everything can be detected when they go through a scanning system, so it is hard for anyone to cheat customs officers,” the employee said. “Therefore, there could be a problem related to the airport’s inspection system as it failed to discover the 229 kg of heroin,” he added. Of the same view, a representative of an import-export company in District 3 said that consignors can fool customs inspectors but they cannot cheat a scanning system, which is able to detect everything. When asked by the media whether Tan Son Nhat Airport’s goods inspection process is not effective, an official at the airport’s Air Security Center said he could not give any comments as the case is under investigation.Strict investigation Yesterday, Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, directed concerned agencies to strictly investigate the case. The Vietnam Customs under the Ministry of Finance and the Vietnam Civil Aviation Administration under the Ministry of Transport must clarify responsibilities of individuals or units related to the shipment. The ministries must strengthen measures to prevent drugs from being sent from Vietnam to other countries or from penetrating into Vietnam from abroad. He also asked the Ministry of Public Security to coordinate with relevant agencies, both home and abroad, to clarify the origin of the drugs and identify those responsible for sending them to Taiwan. The ministry must also work with the Ministry of Defense and other concerned agencies to strengthen control at airports, seaports and border gates to detect and prevent drug trafficking.