As usual, at the end of the year, the illegal transportation of goods of unclear origin without invoices and related documents in Da Nang is very complicated.

Police from the Investigation Police Department for Economic Crimes in Thanh Khe District inspecting a container truck with 137 packages of smuggled goods on Truong Chinh Street.

In attempting to tackle the issue of deep concern, the municipal functional bodies have taken numerous measures to stop the illegal trade in goods.

Since early November, police officers in Da Nang have constantly detected and impounded a number of passenger coaches and trucks which have been used to transport smuggled goods into the city and southern localities. The majority of smuggled goods are sourced from China.

For instance, on 8 December, traffic police officers in Hoa Vang District’s Hoa Nhon Commune stopped a passenger coach with a registration plate No 29H-266.99 which was en route from the north to south regions of Viet Nam.

Owned by Do Van Khuong, 34, from Nam Dinh Province, the coach was suspected being used to transport the illicit goods.

As a result, 4 tonnes of fashion items with unclear origins, such as footwear and clothes, were found in the cargo section.

The driver of the coach said that he was hired by a person in the north to transport the illicit goods to the southern region for sale.

Colonel Tran Muu, the Deputy Director of the municipal Police Department, remarked, from now till the end of the year, the illegal transportation of illicit goods through the city to the southern localities would be very complicated with more and more sophisticated tricks to disguise and hide the products.

Mr Muu said that the trade in counterfeit and pirated goods is booming because of the huge profits involved and the general preference for choosing cheap products of famous brands regardless of their authenticity.

He remarked that Da Nang is a convenient transit point for goods thanks to its favourable position of being on the North-South traffic axis. Most of the fake, counterfeit and poor-quality items are sourced from other localities nationwide, or illegally transported into the city from neighbouring countries.

Mr Muu, therefore, underscored the need for relevant local agencies to increase their inspections of places which could be involved in the storage, transport and distribution of counterfeit goods in residential areas across the city.

By NGOC PHU - Translated by MAI DUNG