Gold smuggling is complicated, what is the cause?

Subjects and exhibits of a gold smuggling case arrested by Tay Ninh authorities. Photo: TL.

Many “huge” scale cases discovered

According to information from the National Steering Committee 389, in the past few years, functional forces have discovered many cases of gold smuggling across the border and successfully fought to destroy many very large-scale rings, seizing money. holds dozens of tons of gold and many assets and USD money.

A typical example is the project to destroy a gold smuggling ring from Cambodia to Vietnam through Chang Riec border gate, Tay Ninh province, prosecute the case, and prosecute 18 defendants for smuggling. Evidence confiscated: 198 kg of gold, 59 gold bars, nearly 2.9 million USD; nearly 27 billion VND and facilities and equipment; The value seized is equivalent to nearly 250 billion VND. Expanding the investigation, in August and September 2022 alone, the subjects smuggled more than 4 tons of gold.

The project to destroy the gold smuggling ring from Laos to Vietnam through Lao Bao border gate, Quang Tri province, led by Nguyen Thi Hoa, has prosecuted the case, prosecuting 20 defendants for smuggling. Initial investigation results determined that from 2022 up to now, the subjects have organized a smuggling ring of over 3 tons of gold, with a total value of about 5,000 billion VND to sell to domestic gold shops for illegal profits. .

Some other special cases such as the “Muoi Tuong” case in An Giang, caught people red-handed transporting 51 kg of gold with a value of more than 70 billion VND from Cambodia to Chau Doc, An Giang province. Long An authorities caught someone red-handed smuggling 39 kg of gold (worth 54 billion VND) from Cambodia to Vietnam. Tay Ninh case arrested 3 subjects, confiscated 54 kg of gold bars, 2 kg of gold jewelry, 84 pieces of 9999 gold and 1.2 billion VND in cash,…

According to Steering Committee 389, the above reality shows that the situation of gold smuggling is quite complicated. Subjects take advantage of the State’s policy on border residents openly traveling between the two countries to hide gold in vehicles, mixed in agricultural products, or take advantage of dangerous trails, rivers, and at night. dark to transport smuggled gold from abroad into Vietnam with many sophisticated methods and tricks. The violation areas are mainly on the southwest border lines with Cambodia in the provinces of An Giang, Long An, Tay Ninh and the central region border with Laos in Quang Tri and Ha Tinh.

After smuggling gold across the border, the suspect divided it into several stages to transport it to gold shops, fine art jewelry manufacturing and processing facilities in Hanoi and City. Ho Chi Minh for consumption.

Caught but not processed

Analyzing the cause, according to the National Steering Committee 389, although the domestic gold market follows the international gold market trend, the amplitude and pace are uneven, often reflected more slowly, leading to discrepancies. between domestic and world gold prices, between the price of SJC gold bars and raw gold and the difference between buying and selling prices.

Besides, gold is a commodity whose origin cannot be traced, its physical and chemical characteristics can only be determined according to the gold content. For gold bars smuggled from Switzerland and Singapore, the subjects torched, burned, erased letters and symbols before transporting them into the country, so there was no basis to determine the origin of the gold. foreign. Meanwhile, raw gold, mined gold and floating gold originating from the people have not been strictly managed, so most of the arrests when people buy, sell and transport domestically cannot be handled. In many cases, after the arrest, the gold had to be returned to the subject because there was no basis to determine the illegal origin.

From a policy perspective, for a long time, the State has allowed the import of raw gold to produce gold jewelry and fine arts. However, to avoid “goldification” of the economy, the State Bank has only granted import licenses to foreign-invested enterprises to produce gold jewelry, fine arts for export and gold trading enterprises with foreign investment. Gold jewelry and fine art processing contracts with foreign countries. This partly leads to a shortage of raw materials.

On the other hand, from 2014 until now, the State Bank has not imported raw gold to produce gold bars, which has impacted the domestic supply of gold bars, leading to an increase in the difference between world and domestic gold prices. High.

Meanwhile, the world’s gold management policy is quite “open” with low taxes and fees, and especially in neighboring countries such as Laos and Cambodia, gold prices are cheaper than Vietnam. In Hong Kong and Singapore, there are large, reputable gold trading floors in the world, with the Swiss Metalor Group placing gold refining factories to purchase raw materials and produce gold bar products to supply to customers. Asian and Southeast Asian markets, including Vietnam, are mainly supplied through wholesalers in Cambodia. Therefore, domestic smugglers can easily access gold sources and trade according to the world price index.

Having clearly identified the cause, the functional forces have proactively grasped and predicted the situation, and in the future will strengthen inspection and control, closely coordinate and share information to detect and prevent the situation. Prevent, arrest and promptly handle gold smuggling cases.