Five people prosecuted for organizing illegal entry of migrants

The Investigation Security Agency under the Department of Public Security in the Mekong Delta province of An Giang has decided to prosecute five people who illegally brought nine Vietnamese citizens across the border into Vietnam. Four of them have tested positive for the coronavirus.

They include Phan Phi Hung, 42; Truong Chi Tai, 31; Le Van Dinh, 31; and Pham Thanh Hap, 31; and Trang Van Ut, 32, all from An Giang province.

The five are all under centralised quarantine at a medical quarantine site. After the quarantine period ends, An Giang police will arrest and relocate the people to the province for further investigation.

According to the police, Hung contacted a person named Quay in Cambodia to illegally bring people from Cambodia to Vietnam. Hung, Tai, Dinh, and Hap used motorbikes to take the people across the border to designated areas in Vietnam.

In addition, Hung also worked with Ut to use cars to take the people to Chau Doc city in An Giang province or other locations.

According to the police, the five people on December 24 allegedly took a group of nine Vietnamese across the border from Cambodia into An Phu district in An Giang province illegally.

Four of the nine tested positive for COVID-19, including patients 1440, 1451, 1452 and 1453. Hundreds of people had close contact (F1) and secondhand contact (F2) with the infected cases.

All of the people involved in the illegal activities withheld information about where they had gone and what they had done, making it difficult for the authorities to conduct contact tracing and investigate the sources of the infection, the police said.

Also on January 1, Vinh Long province’s police prosecuted patient 1,440 for “spreading dangerous infectious diseases to people” in the province.

Most of the direct contacts of the infected people tested negative for COVID-19 in their first tests, while hundreds of other secondhand contacts have been told to isolate at home. The police are continuing the investigation.

Local authorities across the country have been ordered to ramp up efforts to crack down on illegal migrants since the outbreak in Da Nang in July.

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has also asked local authorities to impose stricter controls on illegal migrants from neighbouring countries, calling for strict measures to prevent the spread of the virus.

Vietnam has been applauded for effectively containing the pandemic.

It will continue to remain on high alert as the Tet (Lunar New Year) holiday falls this year in February.