Hanoi affirms it will cooperate with the police in the investigations of Nhat Cuong Software which is accused of smuggling, tax fraud, and money laundering.

Trade in ivory tusks and pangolin scales is illegal in Vietnam but the smuggling remains rampant due to high demand.

Local authorities attributed the rampant smuggling to legal loopholes in which regulations on destroying smuggled cigarette remain unclear while demand for cigarette is on the rise.

In 2019, the authorities were able to handle major cases of smuggling and selling of counterfeit products, a fact that was not possible in the past.

This was not the first time that Vietnamese authority detained people hoarding face masks in large quantities for illegally export to China.