Collections of judgements on the crime of illegal transport of goods or money across the border in Vietnam

Hello, Lawnet would like to answer the following:

1. Regulations on Illegal transport of goods or money across the border in Vietnam

According to Article 189 of the Penal Code 2015 (amended by Clause 39, Article 1 of the Law amending the Penal Code 2017), the crime of illegally transporting goods and currency across borders is as follows:

"1. Any person who illegally conducts deals in goods, Vietnamese currency, foreign currencies, rare metals, gemstones assessed at from VND 100,000,000 to under VND 300,000,000 or under VND 100,000,000 across the border or between a free trade zone and the domestic market in any of the following circumstances shall be liable to a fine of from VND 20,000,000 to VND 200,000,000 or face a penalty of up to 02 years’ community sentence or a 03 - 24 months' imprisonment:

a) The offender incurred an administrative penalty for the same offence or any of the offences specified in Article 188, 190, 191, 192, 193, 194, 195, 196 and 200 hereof, or the offender has an unspent conviction for one of the aforementioned offences;

b) The exhibit is a relic.

This offence committed in any of the following circumstances carries a fine of from VND 200,000,000 to VND 1,000,000,000 or a penalty of 02 - 05 years' imprisonment:

a) The offence is committed by an organized group;

b) The illegal goods are assessed at from VND 300,000,000 to under VND 500,000,000;

c) The illegal goods are national treasure;

d) The offence involves the abuse of the offender's position or power;

dd) The offence is committed in the name of an agency or organization;

e) The offence has been committed more than once;

g) Dangerous recidivism.

If the illegal goods are assessed at ≥ VND 500,000,000, the offender shall be liable to a fine of from VND 1,000,000,000 to VND 3,000,000,000 or face a penalty of 05 - 10 years' imprisonment.

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Thus, for the crime of illegally transporting goods and currency across the border, the maximum prison sentence is up to 10 years.

2. Judgements on the crime of illegal transport of goods or money across the border in Vietnam

Judgment on the crime of illegal transport of goods or money across the border No. 23/2022/HS-ST

- Level of trial: First instance

- Judicial body: People's Court of An Giang province

- Quote from the content: "When Vat N drove a car from Cambodia to Vietnam to receive vegetables, tubers, and fruits, a person named D. (Vietnamese living in Cambodia) phoned Vat N. to hire the transport of yellow metal jewelry and deliver it to Ng, he would pay 5,000 Riel, Vat N. agreed. When Vat N. drove the car near the Chrey Thum border gate - Cambodia, he met D. who 01 nylon bag inside with Vietnamese money and many yellow metal jewelry pieces. After receiving the nylon wrap containing yellow metal jewelry, Vat N put the nylon wrap in a leather bag, left the briefcase next to the seat, and then drove the car to Vietnam. It was discovered by the Customs Force that it was wrapped in D. nylon, which contained 11,675,000 VND and many yellow metal jewelry pieces, so a record was made to arrest the offender and seize the evidence."

Judgment on the crime of illegal transport of goods or money across the border No. 14/2022/HS-ST

- Level of trial: First instance

- Judicial body: People's Court of Lang Son province

- Quoting the content: "Xuan C Company imports goods without a customs declaration. Through inspection, the functional force determined that the shipment consisted of 169 bags, inside which were 27 items, of which: 04 items had been declared at customs; 01 item has been declared at customs but has no goods; and 22 items have not been declared at customs. Checking 04 items of goods that have been declared at customs, we identified that there are 03 items with an actual quantity of goods in excess of the declared quantity. During the counting process, out of 169 bags, 59 bags of goods were declared by customs in accordance with regulations; The remaining 110 bags contained infringing goods (including 22 items not declared by customs and an excess of 03 declared items). The authorities have made a record of the seizure of all 169 bags and vehicles for investigation."

Judgment on the crime of illegal transport of goods or money across the border No. 418/2020/HS-ST

- Level of trial: First instance

- Judicial body: Ho Chi Minh City People's Court

- Quote from the content: "Zimmy G entered Vietnam to visit family with 5,000 USD. Then Zimmy G did exit procedures to Indonesia. When going to the hand baggage screening area, at the passenger terminal of T International Airport, the Customs team of the T Airport Border Gate Customs Branch discovered that Zimmy G's luggage carried a large amount of foreign currency; Suspecting that the passenger carried an excess of foreign currency, he did not declare it to customs, so he asked for a physical inspection. The results of Zimmy G's hand luggage check showed that the amount of foreign currency in a personal wallet, placed inside the hand luggage and personal belongings exceeded the legal limit of 9,600 USD. Therefore, the Customs team made a record of administrative violations in the customs field for Zimmy G on the act of bringing foreign currency in cash without declaring customs, exceeding the prescribed limit."

Judgment 32/2021/HS-ST dated May 17, 2021 on the crime of illegal transport of goods or money across the border

- Level of trial: First instance

- Judicial body: People's Court of District B, Tay Ninh province

- Quote from the content: "L. V. T. entered Vietnam from Cambodia but did not go through the declaration procedures. Through inspection, it was discovered that in the pocket of the trousers T was wearing on his body, there were 220,000,000 Vietnamese banknotes, so he made a record to arrest the offender in the red, seize the evidence, and transfer it to the District B Police Investigation Agency to investigate and clarify."

Judgment on the crime of illegal transport of goods or money across the border No. 124/2021/HS-ST

- Level of trial: First instance

- Judicial body: Hai Phong City People's Court

- Quote from the content: "Around November 2014, Tran A and Bach Cuong K performed the act of using fraudulent tricks to declare and do customs procedures in order to illegally export 98 blocks of marble (marble); with a total volume of 261.98 tons, worth 2,290,764,000 VND; of which 58 stone blocks with a volume of 0.5 m3 or more, with a total volume of 220.62 tons worth VND 1,949,536,000 on the list of goods that the State regulates that are not allowed to be exported (block stone) for the purpose of getting wages for services. To do this, Tran A hired Bach Cuong K to create export customs documents; open the electronic declaration of goods. At the same time, Tran A rented 10 empty containers to pack, collect containers and lead numbers to declare in the customs dossier, and make reservations at OOCL shipping company. After completing the customs procedures for customs clearance, the above goods are transported to Dinh V port in Hai Phong to wait for loading and unloading on the ship, The Anti-Smuggling and Investigation Department, the General Department of Customs, in coordination with the Dinh V border gate Customs Sub-Department, and the Hai Phong City Customs Department, inspected, detected, and seized material evidence."

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