21:26, 18/12/2023

The Department of Investigation Police on Corruption, Economic, Smuggling and Environmental Crimes - Provincial Police has just successfully cracked down on a case of smuggling pesticides with a "huge" value of goods.

Tracing

Through the investigation, the police discovered that a large quantity of plant protection drugs (PPP) not listed in the list of pesticides allowed for use in Vietnam were circulating in the province. On the packaging of these drugs, there were only the words Thai and Cambodian, with no Vietnamese sub-labels. They were suspected to be smuggled goods.

Subject Nguyen Ngoc Dat at the investigation agency.

After grasping the situation, the provincial police leaders directed the Department of Investigation Police on Corruption, Economic Crimes, Smuggling and Environmental Crimes (Department PC03) to concentrate forces and apply synchronous professional measures to clarify the matter.

During the screening process, the police discovered that Trieu Quang Long (born in 1991, owner of Dan Diep Agricultural Supplies Store in Krong Pac district) was one of the main distributors of large quantities of pesticides originating from Cambodia.

Long had a criminal record and had experience in dealing with the authorities using tricks such as: Only contacting to bring goods from Cambodia when there was a customer to buy. When the goods arrived, Long hired a vehicle to deliver them to the customer immediately or leave them at a rented room in Buon Ma Thuot City; not at the store. Each time, Long only brought no more than 30 boxes of goods from Cambodia to Vietnam (total value under 100 million VND) to prevent the case of being caught by the police without being prosecuted.

On June 16, 2023, determining that Long was about to receive 42 boxes of goods worth over 100 million VND, the provincial police leader directed the functional forces to intercept and arrest him red-handed.

Immediately after that, on the evening of June 17, the police force suddenly stopped and inspected a truck with license plate number 47C-231.19 driven by Long, traveling on a road in Buon Ma Thuot City. A quick inspection discovered 200 smuggled pesticide products in the vehicle.

Warehouse of Phuoc An International Transport, Tourism and Trading Company Limited - Ho Chi Minh City Branch.

During the investigation, Long confessed that he had ordered the above goods from a person named Soan (unknown background), living in Cambodia. Then, through Nguyen Dan Phung (born in 1997, residing in Ho Chi Minh City), an employee of Phuoc An International Trade, Tourism and Transport Company Limited - Ho Chi Minh City Branch, he transported them to Vietnam.

From February 2023 until his arrest, Long ordered more than 9,600 pesticide products from Cambodia for sale. Of these, through Phung, he transported more than 3,700 products to Vietnam.

Arrest the whole criminal gang

On August 7, 2023, the Investigation Police Agency - Provincial Police initiated a smuggling case and searched Phuoc An International Trade, Tourism and Transport Company Limited - Ho Chi Minh City Branch, seizing 114 boxes of pesticides along with documents and money.

In coordination with the functional units of the Ministry of Public Security, the Investigation Police Agency - Provincial Police determined that from 2022 to July 2023, Nguyen Dan Phung received 532 orders to transport pesticides from Cambodia to Vietnam with a total volume of more than 519 tons.

Further investigation showed that Nguyen Truong Vu (born in 1985, residing in Ho Chi Minh City - Director of Phuoc An International Trade, Tourism and Transport Company Limited - Ho Chi Minh City Branch) was involved in this case. However, at that time, Vu had left the country.

Using professional measures, the functional force of the provincial police department skillfully approached the family and persuaded Vu's wife to convince her husband to return to Vietnam and work with the investigation agency.

On August 17, 2023, Vu went to the Investigation Agency to work, but initially still concealed his actions and gave a vague statement. After a day of mental struggle, Vu confessed his crime. Vu confessed that, in addition to Nguyen Dan Phung, he also hired Nguyen Ngoc Dat (born in 1983, residing in Tay Ninh province) to transport pesticides from Cambodia to Vietnam.

Dat is a subject who lives near the border area, frequently travels back and forth and organizes goods transportation activities for many years, has a wide social network, has many "juniors" and is extremely cunning in dealing with the police. Dat constantly changes his phone number, some numbers are only used for daily contact and then abandoned to avoid being tracked and monitored.

Faced with this situation, a reconnaissance team disguised themselves, stayed in the area for a long time, contacted individuals working as porters in the border area; built good masses to grasp Dat's movements.

A can of smuggled pesticides.

On September 27, when Dat had just arrived in Vietnam, the police arrested him and his accomplice Ly Van Thao (born in 1986, residing in Binh Phuoc province) who were illegally transporting pesticides from Cambodia to Vietnam.

According to the leader of PC03 Department, the pesticides used in the case are not on the list of permitted use in Vietnam because the residue of hazardous substances exceeds the permitted threshold, not ensuring the safety of human health, livestock, crops and the environment during use. The subjects are cunning, have a "long history" of violating the law and have many methods and tricks to deal with the control of the authorities. In order to obtain clues and evidence to force the subjects to admit their crimes, the police force spent a lot of time analyzing and researching documents and data, promptly discovering "links", breakthroughs and using many professional measures to thoroughly arrest the criminals.

Up to now, after having enough evidence of violations and completing the file, the Investigation Police Agency - Provincial Police has issued a decision to prosecute the subjects: Nguyen Dan Phung, Nguyen Truong Vu for smuggling and illegal transportation of goods and currency across the border; Trieu Quang Long, for smuggling; Nguyen Ngoc Dat and Ly Van Thao for illegal transportation of goods and currency across the border.

Le Thanh