A DTiNews reporter took an adventurous trip to witness the activities of smugglers at a border area between Laos and Vietnam.
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| A boat with contraband goods anchored at Se Pon River and waiting to be unloaded |
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| Smuggled goods were transported openly |
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| Contraband goods were kept on National Road No. 9 and waited to be transported to Dong Ha City, Quang Tri Province |
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| A 12 seat bus came to carry goods from Dong Ha Bus Station |
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| Smuggled goods are hidden from sight |
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| Smuggled goods were packed in small bags right at the bus station |
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| Ba Vi milk product was also traded illegally |
After being collected at Tan Kim Pier, contraband goods are transported to Lao Bao Town, Quang Tri Province. Then, these goods are packed in small bags and carried to the plains.
This journey seems to be simple but it was conducted in a very sophisticated manner.
In order to discover how smuggled goods were transported along Se Pon River, Huong Hoa District, Quang Tri Province, a friend had to be convinced. He tried to stop me warning, “Don’t go to that area. It’s very dangerous. Smugglers are very aggressive.”
Going up the Se Pon River
Wearing casual clothes, we went along a pathway where there were imprints of motorbikes towards Tan Kim Pier at Tan Kim Hamlet, Lao Bao Town, which is the first section of Se Pon River running through Vietnam.
From a far distance, a Minsk motorbike could be seen carrying Jet tobacco packets and running from the pier.
When attempting to take photos of this scene I was stopped by my escort. He cautioned, “If you take pictures here, they will find out and kill us. There are many smugglers here. If they find somebody monitoring them, they will never leave them alone.”
We decided to hide and watch them secretly. After a while, two boats were fully loaded with Jet and Hero tobacco packets, white sugar bags and other goods transported from Laos. They were anchored in the middle of the river.
My friend pointed at the river and said, “This river side belongs to Vietnam and the other side belongs to Laos. These boats anchor in the middle of the river because if they are uncovered, they will run towards Laos, making it impossible for Vietnamese police to capture them.”
Goods were unloaded into two small boats and transported to the river bank where dozens of smugglers were waiting to carry them home on Minsk motorbikes.
According to my friend, most of these goods were made in Thailand and transported to Laos before being imported into Vietnam.
A warehouse of Dao Huong, which is located very near the pier, is very convenient for smugglers to transport their goods via waterway.
Everyday, dozens of boats from Laos are anchored at piers such as Duy Tan, Xuan Phuoc, Tan Thanh or Tan Long which are positioned along border communes and towns to unload goods.
Then, these goods are brought to National Road No. 9 to be transported to the plains.
While paying attention to watching how smugglers operate, suddenly a big young man pointed at us and asked, “Hey, what are you doing here?”
We had no time to explain and kept running as fast as possible towards the pathway. After getting out of the dangerous situation, we realised how dangerous the situation was.
Going down National Road No. 9
Contraband goods were transported to warehouses which are near markets or bus stations.
They were packed in small bags. Goods were carried in buses and they are cleverly hidden in places difficult to discover.
Coffee shops or street restaurants were busy with a lot of customers but also contain warehouses where many women were hired to pack goods in small bags before delivering them.
Hue from Tay 9 Hamlet, Lao Bao Town was dividing Jet tobacco packets into smaller packs and said that recently the police enforced their investigation and imposed high punishment so she had to do like this to hide goods more easily.
She added that she was paid about VND100,000 ($5.1) per day to receive goods from owners then divide and pack them in small bags and upload them into buses and hide them in secret places which were arranged by drivers.
On a 12 seat bus from Lao Bao to Dong Ha City, the busy activities of smugglers were easy to witness.
Along communes such as Tan Thanh or Tan Long where Se Pon River and National Road No. 9 run, small bags of smuggling goods were hidden within clothes of smugglers on buses.
The bus driver told us when his vehicle stayed about 300 metres away from the Combined Checking Station, “Those who have a lot of goods, please unload some of them and hire motorbikes to carry them through the checking station.”
“Please help me and tell the police that you bought this rice cooker at VND800,000 ($41),” a smuggler hiding Jet tobacco packets within her clothes requested.
After agreeing, she added, “If they ask you, you just say you are a tourist. You bought it at Lao Bao Town. They will let you go.”
Most of the passengers on buses running between Dong Ha City and Lao Bao Town are smugglers. If there is any other passenger who dresses nicely, smugglers will ask for help so that their goods can be allowed to go through the checking station more easily.
Arriving at Dong Ha Bus Station, the large amount of contraband goods which were unloaded from the bus is astounding.
There were many kinds of goods from Thailand and Vietnam. One passenger said that Vietnamese goods were also traded here and transported to provinces because at Lao Bao Trading Centre, these kinds of goods were exempted 10% of value added tax and other taxes.
