The trick of transporting more than 3 quintals of gold across the border and then selling it to 6 stores in Hanoi

The Ministry of Public Security's Investigation Police Agency has just completed the investigation into the smuggling case that occurred at Lao Bao Border Gate (Quang Tri), Phu Quy Gold and Silver Company and related units, and proposed to prosecute 25 defendants.

Among them, Nguyen Thi Hoa (53 years old in Quang Tri) and Nguyen Thi Gai (55 years old, Hoa's sister-in-law in Quang Tri) and 21 others were proposed to be prosecuted for smuggling.

Le Xuan Tung (45 years old in Hanoi), Director of Phu Quy Gold Investment Company and accountant Le Thuy Quynh (46 years old in Hanoi) were both proposed to be prosecuted for tax evasion.

According to the investigation conclusion, in early 2022, Tran Anh Son, manager of Minh Hung gold shop; Nguyen Thi Van, manager of Kim Linh gold shop; Dang Van Dinh, owner of Minh Phuc gold shop; Tran Cong Quan, owner of Nhat Vuong gold shop; Dam Anh Tuan, owner of Tuan Quang gold shop; Nguyen Khac Bong and Le Minh Tuan, owner of Tuan Duc gold shop (all in Hanoi) had a need to buy raw gold for processing and trading.

These people knew that Hoa could supply raw gold bars from Laos, so they contacted and placed an order.

From orders from the 6 gold shops above, Hoa and Gai established and operated a gold smuggling ring with many participants in each stage, tightly organized from purchasing, transporting to consumption.

Specifically, after the gold shops placed orders, Hoa contacted a subject named Thoong Nha (in Vientiane, Laos) to order gold and agreed to deliver the goods by one of two methods.

The first method applies from the beginning of 2022 to May 2023. Thoong Nha hires Lao people who can speak Vietnamese, drive cars with Lao license plates, and transport gold into Vietnam through the Lao Bao border gate.

The gold was then delivered to Hoa in front of his house in Lao Bao town, 5-10 kg of gold at a time. The delivery team would receive the payment and bring it back to Laos for Thoong Nha.

According to the investigation conclusion, the police have not yet determined the specific amount of smuggled gold delivered in this way.

The second method was deployed from around May 2023. Thoong Nha no longer organized the gold transportation, so Hoa had to organize the gold receipt from Thoong Nha in Vientiane and then bring it back to Vietnam. To do this, Hoa would send USD to Laos first to a subject named È, who lived near the border.

After that, many defendants who were members of Hoa's family would ride motorbikes to Laos, receive USD from È, then take a bus to Thoong Nha's house in Vientiane to return the USD, pay for the gold and bring it back to È. Each person would be paid 5 million VND/trip.

To bring gold back to Vietnam, Hoa took advantage of the policy that border residents only needed to use their ID cards or citizen identification cards to pass through the border gate. This group rode motorbikes or electric bicycles through Lao Bao border gate to E's house, receiving gold bars wrapped in black plastic bags.

The smuggled gold was then tied to the abdomen or hidden in the belt of the pants in front of the abdomen.

This group also bought other goods such as milk, water, instant noodles, sausages... to bring back, avoiding detection by border guards when going through the border gate. Each person would carry a 1kg bar in each smuggling trip and would be paid 200,000 VND.

The investigation agency alleged that, using the above method, the subjects transported from Laos to Vietnam 310 kg of gold, with a total value of more than 454 billion VND. After the above gold was successfully sold, Hoa illegally profited 310 million VND.

On June 14, 2023, the police urgently searched 21 subjects at 29 locations in Hanoi and Quang Tri, discovered and temporarily seized more than 8.4 billion VND, 4.2 million USD, 36 gold bars... At the same time, the police caught 3 suspects in the ring delivering a total of 21 kg of smuggled gold to gold shops in Hanoi.

Expanding the investigation into the case, the police determined that Le Xuan Tung and Le Thuy Quynh had created many accounting systems, evading payment of more than 6 billion VND in value added tax and corporate income tax.