Vietnam reports major increase in goods smuggling
HANOI - Smuggling across
Vietnam's lengthy land and sea borders has
surged with 32,000 cases uncovered in the last
seven months, an official from the Government
Office said on Wednesday.
``Many of these cases were small, however, and
involved residents living in the border areas,'' the
official told Reuters.
He was responding to comments by Deputy
Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, who was
quoted by official media on Wednesday as saying
despite efforts by authorities to tighten control
measures, smuggling and trade fraud had grown.
``Anti-smuggling action is complicated and
drastic, so (we should) be patient,'' Dung said in
an interview with the Nhan Dan (People)
newspaper, the Communist Party's mouthpiece.
Smuggling of goods ranging from cigarettes to
luxury cars has been a constant problem for
Vietnam, which shares lengthy borders with
Cambodia, Laos and China.
The government had previously reported 10,000
smuggling cases in the first nine months of 1997,
the only comparison available.
Dung, also a member of communist Vietnam's
elite Politburo, said gold and U.S. dollar
trafficking had fallen which had assisted in
stabilising the country's exchange rate.
He urged local authorities to prevent social
organisations, state entities and companies from
engaging in smuggling and called for strict
punishment against errant officials.
Earlier this month a number of former local tax
and customs officials were sentenced to jail terms
of up to 12 years in a southern province for
smuggling goods from Cambodia.
REUTERS, May 27, 1998.
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