Hanoi (VNA) - Fuel smuggling is on the rise in Vietnamese watersbordering Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand recently, partly due to thediscrepancy between selling prices in Vietnam and neighbouring countries,according to the Vietnamese coastguard.

Colonel Tran Van Nam, head of the LegalDepartment at the Maritime Police High Command, said that thecoastguard struggled to inspect petroleum smuggling activities in the seaareas between Vietnam and other countries.

According to the colonel, foreign vessels oftenillegally transport and sell oil to Vietnamese boats disguised as fishing boatsat the border areas. After several investigations, the boats have become morecautious and better prepared. After discovering, they are under observation,they quickly move out of Vietnamese waters areas.

On a more serious note, Nam said some smuggling boats were even equipped withweapons.

Boat owners often hire crews from differentcountries, including Thailand, Cambodia and Laos, making it difficult for thecoastguard to identify the origin of the vessel during inspections.

From the end of April until the end of May, thecoastguard seized more than 3.5 million litres of smuggled oil, Nam said.

“Smuggled oil brings huge profits. The oil price offshore is only two-thirds ofthat sold on shore,” he added.

The sale of fuel with unknown origin is still taking place at seaport areas inQuang Ninh province, Hai Phong city, Da Nang city and Vung Tau city.

In April, 26 people from Cambodia andThailand aboard three boats were arrested for transporting diesel off Vietnam’ssouthern coast. In this case, coastguard officials in southern Vietnam seizedmore than 1.2 million litres of diesel from the three foreign boats.

None of the crew could produce legal documentsfor the fuel.

Last December, Vietnam’s coastguard intercepted a Thai ship with 1.3 millionlitres of undocumented gasoline.

Between March and July last year, at least fourothers were caught with nearly one million litres of illegal diesel.-VNA