Public Security Forces, Border Guard and Customs strengthen coordination in controlling illegal trade of weapons and explosives

Deputy Director of the Police Department of Social Order Administrative Management Senior Colonel Tran Hong Phu, Deputy Director of the Border Guard Drug and Crime Prevention Department Senior Colonel Vu Xuan Dai and Deputy Head of the Anti-Smuggling Investigation Division of the Customs Department Dang Van Duc co-chaired the meeting.

Over the past two years, the Public Security Forces, the Border Guard and the Customs have carried out extensive communication campaigns encouraging citizens to voluntarily surrender weapons, explosives, combat gears and fireworks to the authority. 

They also developed pilot weapons and explosives collection models in key border areas.

As a result, authorities collected a substantial volume of prohibited items, including more than 37,000 firearms of various types, over 1,000 kg of explosives, nearly 4,000 combat gears and almost 3 tons of fireworks.

Joint forces also detected and handled 5,413 cases involving 8,638 offenders, seizing 1,382 firearms, 24.4 tons of explosives, 736 combat gears and more than 76 tons of fireworks.

During the meeting, representatives of public security, border guard and customs units conducted a comprehensive assessment of the coordination plan, identified remaining shortcomings in their coordination, shared effective practices, and proposed solutions to improve collaboration in preventing and combating crimes and legal violations in this domain.

Concluding the meeting, Senior Colonel Tran Hong Phu emphasized that, to further enhance the effectiveness of the plan, relevant agencies should effectively advise local Party committees and authorities to mobilize the combined strength of the political system and the public in reporting and combating violations related to weapons, explosives, combat gears and fireworks.

He also underscored the need for the Public Security Forces, the Border Guard Force and the Customs to maintain regular and long-term coordination to closely grasp the situation, promptly detect, prevent and dismantle criminal networks engaged in the illegal trafficking and transportation of such items along the border.