Illegal immigrants arrested in Lang Son

The move came since Vietnam has found an increasing number of Chinese nationals sneaking into the country illegally over the past few weeks, raising concerns over the risk of COVID-19 infections among local communities.

So far, the provincial Border Guard Command, in cooperation with competent authorities, has investigated and started legal proceedings against 48 smugglers for allegedly helping people enter and exit the country illegally while 71 others recieved administrative penalties.

According to Colonel Ninh Van Hop, Commander of the provincial Border Guard, Lang Son shares more than 231 km of border with China which spread across five districts.

Criminal activities along the border have become more and more complicated, with most of the cases involving undocumented entries and exits, and trafficking of drugs, human and firecrackers, he said.

On July 28, two Vietnamese women were arrested by authorities in Lang Son for allegedly bringing nine foreigners into the country.

Hoang Thi Thom, 40, and Dinh Thi Tu, 37, both from Yen Khoai commune in Loc Binh district, told the police that they were hired by a man to take eight foreigners into Vietnam via the land border near Chi Ma Border Gate two days prior. They were to receive 250,000 VND (10.8 USD) for each successful case.

When Thom arrived at the border area, Tu called her, telling her to pick up another person waiting nearby to be brought into Vietnam.

All were later caught by border guards while meeting up in the area.

45 people arrested in Quang Ninh after illegally entering the country

Border guards of Quang Ninh province said on July 31 that they have detained 45 people illegally entering Vietnam from China.

The police discovered a group of 29 Vietnamese citizens attempting to cross a border river into Quang Ninh’s Mong Cai city at 18:15 on July 30. The entrants were immediately placed into quarantine in an effort to prevent the potential spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). 

The same day, local border guards also detained a group of 16 people at the same location at 15:20 as they were trying to illegally enter the country. They were subsequently taken to a concentrated quarantine centre in line with COVID-19 prevention and control regulations.

According to data released by Quang Ninh border guards, more than 200 cases involving 800 people illegally entering and leaving Vietnam have been discovered since February. Of this figure, 600 of the detected individuals were Vietnamese and 32 were Chinese.

Recent weeks has seen the number of people attempting to illegally cross the border into Vietnam increase sharply. Border guards have immediately tightened border inspections and patrols in an attempt to detect and prevent those illegal entrants.

More suspected illegal immigrants found in HCM City

Authorities in HCM City on July 30 took 11 foreigners into custody on suspicion of illegally entering the southern metropolis. (Photo: congan.com.vn)

Authorities in HCM City on July 30 took 11 foreigners into custody on suspicion of illegally entering the southern metropolis, a local official said on the same day.

Hua Thi Hong Dang, Chairwoman of the People’s Committee of Tan Phu district, said the foreigners are among 19 suspects found in Phu Thanh ward, with the remaining eight having escaped from local police.

Only two of the 11 have passports, and all are now under quarantine.

On July 29, local authorities found another 11 foreigners illegally staying in an apartment in Binh Thanh district, who have also been quarantined.

Border guard force resolves to stop illegal entry into Vietnam

The border guard force has intensified monitoring of the border line over the past more than three months to stop the illegal entry into Vietnam.

A total of 1,600 checkpoints have been set up along the border, manned by nearly 10,000 soldiers and officers, who coordinated with local military and self-defence forces to detect more than 15,000 people illegally entering the country and put them in quarantine.

The border guard force have also maintained regular patrols to guard national sovereignty and border security.

However, some localities have seen the rise of some rings which illegally brought foreigners into the country by road, by sea and by air, using sophisticated tricks such as hiding people in cargo or containers to go through border gates, which have caused negative impacts on the prevention and control of the COVID-19 pandemic in Vietnam.

Under the Prime Minister’s instruction, the Ministry of National Defence has assigned its Criminal Investigation Office, the Central Military Procuracy, and the Military Security Agency to set up working teams to investigate such rings.

The ministry assigned the Border Guard Command, the Coast Guard Command and military zones to inform the instructions of the PM and the Minister of Defence to every soldier and officer, thus raising their sense of responsibility in preventing illegal entry into the country.

The ministry ordered intensifying patrols and inspections along the entire border line in order to keep the border safe, while coordinating with the public security force to early bring to trial cases of illegally bringing people into the country.

Military units are also urged to actively fight back wrongful views of hostile elements about the guidelines and viewpoints of the Party, State and Army on COVID-19 prevention and control./.VNA