Vietnam’s border guards bust massive cigarette trafficking ring
Monday, April 24, 2023, 19:24 GMT+7
Border guards in Long An Province, southern Vietnam have teamed up with police in Tan Hung District to catch a vehicle illegally transporting over 57,100 packs of imported cigarettes.
This is the largest cigarette smuggling ring to have been broken up in Long An Province so far, the border guard agency said on Monday.
At 2:00 am on the same day, a border guard team discovered a truck running in Hung Dien Commune under Tan Hung District near the border area, showing signs of transporting smuggled goods. As such, the border guards signaled the driver of the vehicle to stop for a check.
However, the driver ignored the signal and kept running, to no avail.
The driver was identified as Le Van Vang, a 31-year-old resident of Hon Dat District in the Mekong Delta province of Kien Giang. Before the arrest, he was living in Tan Hung District, Long An Province.
Local forces checked the truck body and discovered 115 boxes containing over 57,100 packs of cigarettes.
Vang admitted to being hired to transport these packs of cigarettes from Tan Hung District to Dong Thap Province by an unknown man for VND5 million (US$214.4).
He was advanced VND3 million ($128.6) and drove the truck to a venue in Tan Hung District to take the contraband for delivery.
He was caught by border guard forces some 10 kilometers from the site.
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