On Tuesday afternoon, inspectors from Da Nang’s Markets Management Division made inspection visits to 45 of the city’s grocery stores and restaurants.  Eleven were found to be violating the city’s regulations by selling smuggled cigarettes.  As a result, about 1,500 packs of illegally traded cigarettes were seized by the inspectors, and fines totalling over 33.5 million VND were imposed on the violators.

The inspection visits followed instructions from the national Markets Management Bureau to increase checks and tighten the inspection of domestic businesses throughout the country in order to control the trade and transportation of smuggled cigarettes.  The peak period for the inspections is from 1 April to 30 June.