Vietnam jails Cambodian border officer for smuggling 18 kilos of gold

The sentenced was handed down on March 30 to police major Rim Ri Linh, the former deputy chief of the Phnom Den border security post. He was arrested in late November 2016 after Vietnamese customs officiers in An Giang Province, which borders Cambodia, checked his car and found the gold aboard, the report cited the indictment as saying.

The officer was taken in as he failed to declare the gold, it said.

He told the Vietnamese authorities he only helped deliver the precious metal, valued at more than VND15.6 billion (nearly US$690,000) at that time, to a woman in Vietnam.

Vietnamese laws ban outbound and inbound travelers from carrying gold bars, while foreigners bringing in gold bars have to deposit them at the customs and can only take them back at departure.