Foreign currency in USD confiscated by An Giang provincial police after arresting a local man for smuggling over half a million dollars into Cambodia. — Photo courtesy of the police.

HCM CITY — A local man has been arrested by An Giang provincial police for smuggling over half a million US dollars into Cambodia.

La Văn Thuận, 42, was caught on Thursday in An Phú District with a plastic bag containing $530,000 while riding a motorbike near the border area.

The man has admitted to his involvement in a smuggling operation after being arrested.

He told the police he had been hired by an individual in An Giang Province to transport the money into Cambodia, where it would be received by another party.

In exchange for his work, he was promised a reward of a few hundred dollars, he added.

The man is facing charges for illegally transporting goods and currency across the border under Article 189 of the Penal Code.

Individuals are required to declare any amount exceeding $5,000 or VNĐ15 million when entering or leaving the country under Vietnamese law.

Offenders may be criminally prosecuted for smuggling goods and currency across the border.

In a separate case, authorities are seeking two foreigners for their alleged involvement in illegal cross-border transfers of $4.5 billion linked to the Vạn Thịnh Phát group and its chairwoman, Trương Mỹ Lan.

The two former executives of Saigon Commercial Joint Stock Bank (SCB) fled the country after assisting Lan, currently on death row for financial fraud, in carrying out the transfers.

A police investigation has revealed that the chairwoman and her compliances illegally transferred over $4.5 billion (VNĐ107 trillion) and laundered VNĐ445 trillion over a decade. — VNS