Police in Hanoi have busted a ring that smuggled cigarettes and cigars worth billions of dong (VND1 billion = US$44,570), arresting several suspects, officers announced on Thursday afternoon.

Officers from the anti-smuggling force under the Hanoi Department of Police inspected Tran Quoc Dung, 22, who was transporting a shipment containing 400 packs of foreign-made Sobranie cigarettes without any certificate of origin.

Dung admitted to police officers that he was delivering the shipment to a secret storage place in Hoang Kiem District, Hanoi.

Police later identified the owner of the storage facility as 35-year-old Hoang Manh Cuong, who stated that the products were purchased from different ‘black markets,’ according to initial reports.

A search was conducted at Cuong’s house, workplace and storage, after which over 2,500 packs of cigarettes and 25,700 rolls of cigars were confiscated.

Many of the cigars were produced in foreign countries and worth several million dong per roll (VND1 million = $44.57), according to police officers.

In another case, police in the central city of Da Nang said on Thursday that they are keeping a large number of counterfeit cosmetics and dietary supplements for investigation.

The products are Chinese counterfeits and are linked to a local firm, Vinadaco, officers asserted after they inspected two of the company’s deliverymen.

Local authorities searched the firm’s warehouse and found 3,480 stamps faked from those issued by the Ministry of Public Security to certify product authenticity.

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