Pecohub Customs officers at Hanoi’s Noi Bai International Airport found 31 pieces of suspected gold bars hidden in the bras and underwear of four passengers who had just arrived from Taiwan on March 3.
The 12.3 kg of seized metal would be worth roughly VND60 billion (US$2.3 million) if confirmed to be gold.
One passenger alone was carrying 10 pieces weighing 5 kg, concealed in a bra and underwear. Two others hid a combined 14 pieces weighing 4.6 kg in their underwear. A fourth tucked 7 pieces weighing 2.7 kg into underwear and wore additional pieces on the wrist.
None of the four had filed customs declarations. Officers flagged them through risk profiling and baggage X-ray analysis at the arrivals terminal before conducting physical searches, the General Department of Customs said on March 4.
The four and the seized metal have been handed over to Hanoi police for further investigation. Testing is underway to confirm whether the metal is gold and to establish its value.
The seizure is the latest in a string of gold smuggling cases at Noi Bai, where officers have intercepted multiple couriers arriving from Taiwan, Hong Kong and South Korea in recent months.
On March 2, customs caught another passenger arriving from South Korea with 561 g of suspected gold.
The General Department of Customs said authorities have intensified enforcement against cross-border gold smuggling, ramping up risk assessments on high-priority passengers and flights, coordinating with airlines to screen passenger manifests from high-risk countries and territories, and increasing body scanning and physical inspections.
Vietnam’s domestic gold market has been volatile, rising 21% so far this year.
The wide gap between domestic and international gold prices, currently around VND20 million ($764) per tael, has long fueled incentives for smuggling.
