Tobacco firms rue weak anti-smuggling campaign

The domestic tobacco industry hopes that the Government can be more effective in fighting an impending surge in smuggling that causes losses amounting to trillions of dong to the State Budget. A report in the Cong Thuong (Industry and Trade) Newspaper last week quoted Pham Kien Nghiep, the General Secretary of the Viet Nam Tobacco Association’s (VTA), as saying: “Current legal sanctions are ineffective to deal with tobacco smugglers, who include both local residents and carriers from elsewhere.” Nghiep said he was aware that the law enforcement agencies faced a difficult task since the smugglers were fighting back to protect their goods and also managing to escape when stopped.

Under current rules, smugglers will face criminal charges if they are caught transporting 1,500 cigarette packets or more. However, they spilt their goods into smaller portions, making it difficult to charge them with the crime.

 

http://english.vietnamnet.vn/fms/business/114179/tobacco-firms-rue-weak-anti-smuggling-campaign.html