US Government grants Vietnam Customs a USD 200,000 X-ray scanner

• Can Tho Police hand over steel-hulled patrol boat to Ben Tre Police
• Thanh Hoa Police hand over over 1.2 billion VND to victims of recent floods
• Vietnam and US strengthen ties with Vietnam war artifact handover

The handover ceremony was held at the Noi Bai Cargo Terminal, Noi Bai International Airport on September 24 morning. US Ambassador to Vietnam Daniel Kritenbrink represented the US Government to hand over a state-of-the-art X-ray scanner aided by the US Government to the Vietnam Customs.

Delegates at the ceremony.

The machine, valued at USD 200,000, will provide high-quality images of all cargoes going to and from the Noi Bai Cargo Terminal, thereby helping identify the exact items prohibited inside packs, such as explosives, weapons and illegal drugs.

According to information from the US Embassy, the donation was within the framework of the US Government's Export Control and Related Border Security program, with the aim of assisting Vietnamese customs authority in controlling imported and exported goods.

Over the past few years, the US Government has been providing considerable support to the Vietnam Customs, helping the Vietnamese agency improve its capacity to prevent trading of illegal goods, particularly weapons of mass destruction.

From September 10 to 14, experts from the US Customs trained officers of the Vietnam Customs in operating the new equipment and analyzing images from the X-ray machine.

The X-ray machine.

The advanced features of this system, coupled with the X-ray image analysis workshop could help the Vietnamese authority identify anomalies in cargo containers and locate them exactly, said the US Ambassador to Vietnam. More importantly, it can prevent the entry of weapons of mass destruction and related materials, which pose threats to Vietnam’s national security as well as to the entire international community, US Ambassador to Vietnam Kritenbrink emphasized.