On 3/4, Nguyen Thi Hien, 40, a former officer at Saigon Port Area 1 Border Gate Customs, received a 10-year prison sentence from the Ho Chi Minh City People's Court for smuggling.

The court also sentenced other individuals involved in the case: Nguyen Phuc Loc, a former officer at the Sub-department of Food Safety and Hygiene of Nam Dinh province (now Ninh Binh province), received eight years for bribery. Hoang Tien Cuong, the former head of the Sub-department of Food Safety and Hygiene of Nam Dinh province, was sentenced to two years, five months, and seven days for abuse of power and authority while on duty.

Tran Quoc Khanh, the branch manager of Busan Company, identified as the mastermind, received 14 years and six months for both smuggling and giving bribes. Bui Tien Thieu, the director, and Tran Ngoc Dang, an employee of Busan Company, were each sentenced to 10 years for smuggling.

The defendants in court. Photo: Hai Duyen

The verdict stated that Nguyen Thi Hien enabled Busan Company to successfully import a milk shipment worth approximately 3.4 billion VND by overlooking errors in document approval, accepting inconsistent product names, and approving illegally issued product declaration acceptance papers.

Busan Company, officially registered under Thieu's name as director, was actively managed by Khanh. Since 2013, Khanh had been organizing the import and sale of milk products from abroad, establishing multiple branches in Hanoi and Binh Duong.

Despite knowing that some milk products, particularly the Ensure brand, carried labels stating "not for sale in Vietnam and Mexico," Khanh actively sought to import them due to their high demand and profitability. To legitimize the procedures, from 2021 to 2022, Khanh colluded with Nguyen Phuc Loc, an officer at the Sub-department of Food Safety and Hygiene of Nam Dinh province, to process product declaration documents. Loc assisted in completing the paperwork and drafted submissions for Hoang Tien Cuong to sign, issuing 12 acceptance papers for various imported milk products, including Glucerna and Horizon Organic. In return, Khanh paid Loc 199 million VND. After covering expenses such as testing fees, translation, and document processing, Loc profited 63 million VND.

In early 2023, Khanh instructed his subordinates to prepare documents for importing over 4,000 cartons of milk from the US, valued at approximately 50,000 USD. During customs procedures, Khanh further directed Dang to alter documents, declaring a lower quantity and value than actual to reduce import taxes. Nguyen Thi Hien, responsible for customs clearance, facilitated the passage of this shipment for Khanh.

On 12/4/2023, as the goods were being transported out of the port, Ho Chi Minh City Police intervened. Their inspection revealed 521 cartons more than declared, resulting in a value discrepancy of over 574 million VND. The total value of the entire milk shipment was confirmed to be over 3.4 billion VND. Tran Quoc Khanh was identified as the mastermind, orchestrating the entire process from document preparation, while the other defendants played accomplice roles.