Public Security Minister Lương Tam Quang delivers the government’s crime and legal violations report on Tuesday. — VNA/VNS Photo

HÀ NỘI — The Government has reported a broad decline in crime this year but warned that fraud, counterfeit goods, drug abuse and food safety violations remain stubborn and in some cases are worsening.

At a plenary session of the National Assembly's (NA) 10th sitting on Tuesday, lawmakers heard the Government’s annual assessment of crime and legal violations in 2025 and an independent verification report from the NA's Committee on Legal and Judicial Affairs.

Government data show that most major crime indicators declined compared with the same period in 2024.

Crimes against social order fell by more than 12 per cent, with several serious and very serious offences dropping sharply.

Police launched nine nationwide extensive campaigns to suppress crime, achieving an overall case-clearance rate of over 81 per cent. Clearance rates reached 93.25 per cent for very serious cases and 95.16 per cent for especially serious cases, both exceeding NA targets.

Economic offences and corruption-related crimes also dropped in terms of detected cases, by nearly 29 per cent and 18 per cent respectively year-on-year.

Authorities also reported a steep fall in environmental crime and food safety violations, down 48.17 per cent as inspections had been intensified in urban waste management, forest protection and food safety enforcement.

Market surveillance officers seize 3,180 bags of sausages of unknown origin in Lạng Sơn in July.

Crimes in information technology and telecommunications were down 11.53 per cent. Officials said they had rolled out inter-sectoral campaigns to tackle online scams, expanded electronic authentication services and blocked access to websites and social media accounts linked to illegal activity.

Drug-related cases fell by 18.29 per cent. Police said they had focused on trafficking routes and hotspots, tightened controls over narcotic medicines and closely supervised drug addicts, illegal users and post-rehabilitation people.

Minister of Public Security Lương Tam Quang said most crime categories had been pushed down and that investigations into high-profile cases had been sped up in 2025.

However, he also acknowledged persistent shortcomings: the rate of resolving crime reports and prosecution requests had not yet met NA targets and administrative violations remained widespread.

Hoàng Thanh Tùng, chairman of the NA’s Committee on Legal and Judicial Affairs, broadly agreed that crime and violations had fallen overall, down 19.18 per cent year-on-year, but warned that several dangerous trends were moving in the opposite direction.

Fraud and property appropriation cases rose by 11.76 per cent, public order disturbances by 21.83 per cent and the production and sale of counterfeit goods by 47.17 per cent, he said.

Police seize cardboard boxes containing thousands of unlabelled perfumes and cosmetics in a raid in Hà Nội in July.

The committee chairman also warned that drug-related crime remained highly complex and increasingly large-scale. Food safety violations continued to pose serious risks to public health.

There had also been cases where officials violated the law and allegedly shielded offenders operating under the guise of legitimate businesses.

Although some performance indicators exceeded benchmarks under NA Resolution 96, the rate of resolving crime reports stood at 88.12 per cent, still below the legislature’s target, he added.

A separate report from Government Inspector-General Đoàn Hồng Phong showed that the anti-corruption campaign continued to uncover massive financial wrongdoing but also faced institutional bottlenecks.

Inspections this year uncovered economic violations exceeding VNĐ230 trillion (US$8.7 billion) and involving 75 hectares of land. Inspectors transferred 236 cases involving 140 people to investigation agencies.

He said authorities finalised inspections into second-campus projects of Bạch Mai Hospital and Việt Đức University Hospital in just 36 days, following directions from the Communist Party's General Secretary.

Deputy Prime Minister Lê Thành Long inspects Bạch Mai Hospital's second campus in Ninh Bình on Monday. — Photo baochinhphu.vn

A sweeping nationwide inspection of 563 stalled or problematic projects was completed within 55 days. Officials said the findings would underpin policy decisions to unlock frozen capital and restart development.

However, Phong also conceded that legal reform to close loopholes, inconsistencies and overlaps remained slow in some sectors and had not kept pace with real-world demands. Some corruption-prevention measures had not been fully effective.

Several cases had to be suspended because suspects fled abroad or international legal assistance had not yielded results. Large volumes of misappropriated assets remained unrecovered.

Corruption, wastefulness and other negative practices remained complex in certain sectors, while everyday harassment and petty corruption affecting citizens and businesses had not been thoroughly resolved.

Looking to 2026, Quang said the government would overhaul legal frameworks to align with the restructured organisation of local police and investigation agencies.

Other goals would include accelerating work on a National Data Centre, expanding full-process digital public services under Project 06 and reallocating police personnel according to new national standards, with more staff deployed at the grassroots level. — VNS