Border guards make efforts to prevent illegal immigration for Covid-19 fight

Vietnam has gone 100 days without any community transmission of Covid-19. Border soldiers’ efforts to prevent illegal entrance contribute to Vietnam’s success in Covid-19 fight.

Border guards are patrolling in the borderline in the Central Province of Ha Tinh (Photo: SGGP)
Border guards are patrolling in the borderline in the Central Province of Ha Tinh (Photo: SGGP)

However, recent illegal entrance of six people including patient 1,440 has made the situation complex. Control and prevention of unlawful immigrants are top priority for this time in order to bring happy Tet holiday (the Lunar New Year) to all residents.

In the southwest border, illegitimate immigration is rampant. For instance, border guards in the Mekong Delta Province of An Giang have handled 329 unlawful immigration cases involving in 767 people as well as prosecuted eight people.

Head of the Border Guard Station in Kien Giang Colonel Nguyen The Anh said that border guards in coordination with local administration increased tightening illicit immigration. Any guards found commit duty negligence or help others make illegal entrance into Vietnam will receive punishment or they will be transferred to other working positions, he added.

While Colonel Nguyen Thuong Le, head of the other guard station in An Giang Province with 100 kilometers of border lines said 136 stations have been set up alongside trails in the border lines. Soldiers in these stations fight both smuggling and breakers of immigration regulations.

Many control stations have been established in the Mekong Delta Province of Dong Thap, sharing 50.5-kilometer-long borderline with Cambodia and being home to two international border gates. Border guards have worked relentlessly to prevent people from feloniously entering the Southeast Asian country.

Border guards in Bu Nhi Station in the Northern - Central Province of Thanh Hoa is planning to set up one more station in Pa Hoc village in Muong Lat District for Covid-19 prevention meanwhile Major Ha Van Minh, Deputy Head of the international border guard station Na Meo said that one mobile team and six stations have been established for Covid-19 prevention. Each station has six guards.

Despite the cold weather, guards are working around the clock in the international border gate Cha Lo in the Central Province of Quang Binh. Head of the Cha Lo guard station Senior lieutenant-colonel Phan Thanh Bong said that the Cha Lo borderline and the border gate Cha Lo are crowded with people and trucks carrying commodities in the last months of the year. Therefore, guards must take heed of regulations for Covid-19 preventive tasks.

Similarly, tens of border guards alongside trails in the borderline between Vietnam and Laos in Thua Thien – Hue Province’s A Luoi District have been present in stations to do their duties in the rainy cold days.

In a talk with Sai Gon Giai Phong newspaper reporters, Senior lieutenant-colonel Nguyen Ngoc Nguyen, Deputy Chief of a border guard station in the Central Province of Ha Tinh said that more than 300 soldiers of 25 stations have been taking turns to patrol in trails in the 165 kilometer borderline between Ha Tinh and Lao to seize those who intentionally enter Vietnam without permission and escape quarantine.

It is highly likely that there will be an increase in illegal immigration from Laos to Vietnam through trails in the Central Province of Quang Tri as people return to Vietnam for reunion with relatives in Tet holidays (the Lunar New Year).

Lieutenant Colonel Do Xuan Trinh, chief of Nam Giang station in the Central Province of Quang Nam’s border gate Nam Giang said that guards in four stations 723, 718, 716 and in the border gate have arrested 23 people going into Vietnam unlawfully.

In the last month of the year, more people have been travelling in the border in the Northern Province of Lang Son with over 231-km borderline with China. Therefore, border guards and related forces have put up 150 camps and stations to prevent people from coming into Vietnam through trails and small paths.

The Northern Province of Quang Ninh has seen illegal immigrants by roads and sea threatening the country’s success in the fight against Covid-19. Border guards have maintained 70 existing stations and eight mobile teams comprising of hundreds of staffs who take turns to work relentlessly.

Border guards in the Northern Province of Cao Bang said that they have prevented over 8,300 illegal immigrants since the beginning of the year. Moreover, they have taken criminal proceedings against 36 people who organized illegal immigrations.

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