A wooden fishing vessel found carrying 32,000 litres of smuggled diesel off the coast of Bà Rịa-Vũng Tàu Province on November 12. — Photo courtesy of VCG

BÀ RỊA – VŨNG TÀU PROVINCE — Some 32,000 litres of smuggled diesel has been seized from a wooden fishing vessel 18 nautical miles south-east of the southern province of Bà Rịa-Vũng Tàu.

To effectively fight against fuel smuggling in Vietnamese waters, the Coast Guard Intelligence Division No. 2 under the Việt Nam Coast Guard (VCG) Command has worked together with the Department of Customs to conduct patrols at sea.

The division said on November 15 that a working team of the two units on November 12 stopped the wooden vessel ST 01727 TS registered in the Cửu Long (Mekong) Delta province of Sóc Trăng and found the oil of unknown origin.

The vessel’s captain, Hoàng Văn Lượm, 42, of Kiên Giang Province, and four crew members were on board.

Lượm failed to furnish documents proving the origin of the oil, and none of the crew had the qualifications or certification required to be a sailor.

The working team on November 14 brought the vessel ashore and handed the case over to the Coast Guard Region No 3 Command based in Vũng Tàu City for further investigation.

Previously, officers of the Coast Guard Intelligence Division No 2 discovered a fishing vessel with 90,000 litres of smuggled diesel off the coast of Bà Rịa-Vũng Tàu Province on October 30.

On September 22, they also seized more than 260,000 litres of smuggled diesel oil from two offshore wooden fishing vessels in the southwest coastal region of Việt Nam. — VNS