Shipment containing Hydro Whey Zero products was seized by the police. — Photo from HCM City's police

HCM CITY — HCM City’s police have dismantled a large-scale functional food smuggling ring, with the total value of seized products amounting to tens of billions of Vietnamese đồng.

From April 16, 2025, Profit Company Limited registered eight import declarations for nearly 50,000 units of health protection food products manufactured by Mutant of Canada.

However, the company did not have the legally required product registration dossiers.

To carry out the illegal import, the suspects declared the goods as “supplementary foods” and used invalid self-declaration documents to sell the shipment valued at over VNĐ40 billion (over US$1.6 million) to the domestic market.

The case was uncovered by the city’s police during a peak crackdown on crime aimed at ensuring security and order for major political events and the Lunar New Year 2026.

Initial investigations identified Tạ Văn Vinh, born in 1971, director of Profit Company, as the ringleader.

Together with two accomplices, Phan Thị Tuyết Nhung (born 1982) and Trần Ngọc Phương Uyên (born 2001), Vinh allegedly took advantage of loopholes in customs inspection and food safety supervision to smuggle products from Europe such as Biotech of Hungary and Mutant of Canada.

Earlier, authorities, in coordination with Sài Gòn Port Customs Area 1, also seized another imported container belonging to the company.

The shipment contained Hydro Whey Zero products in chocolate, vanilla and strawberry flavours under the Biotech brand, with a declared value of more than VNĐ5 billion.

The batch failed to meet import requirements under current regulations.

The HCM City Police Investigation Agency has launched criminal proceedings on the smuggling case.

The three suspects have been charged and placed in temporary detention for further investigation. — VNS