Picture courtesy of VN Express

 

A traveler from Taiwan was apprehended at Hanoi's Noi Bai International Airport with a suspiciously heavy carry-on. Customs officials became wary when they noticed unusual signs and decided to inspect the passenger's black suitcase, which contained no checked baggage.

 

Inside the suitcase, officials discovered 12 gold bars cleverly concealed within four camera lenses. The gold bars weighed a total of nearly two kilograms and have an estimated market value of over VND5.5 billion (US$210,000).

 

The authorities have seized the gold and handed the suspect over to Hanoi police for a detailed investigation.

 

  Adapted by ASEAN Now from VN Express 2025-06-27

 

 

Not much information in this article.

Sad that he got caught, sad that there are laws against taking gold with you.

 

A traveler from Taiwan : Was it a Taiwanese or a Viet coming from Taiwan ?

Why wasn't the gold detected in the departing airport ?

 

Why take the risk ? He could have taken a boat from Taiwan to Vietnam.

7 minutes ago, FlorC said:

Not much information in this article.

Sad that he got caught, sad that there are laws against taking gold with you.

 

A traveler from Taiwan : Was it a Taiwanese or a Viet coming from Taiwan ?

Why wasn't the gold detected in the departing airport ?

 

Why take the risk ? He could have taken a boat from Taiwan to Vietnam.

The Google box said there's no law against traveling with large amounts of gold in either country, but you need to declare it. Absolutely foolish to try and skirt that law, gonna cost all that gold and then some.

2 minutes ago, HappyExpat57 said:

The Google box said there's no law against traveling with large amounts of gold in either country, but you need to declare it. Absolutely foolish to try and skirt that law, gonna cost all that gold and then some.

One shouldn't have to declare it.

It's your property and you should do with it as you please.

15 minutes ago, FlorC said:

A traveler from Taiwan : Was it a Taiwanese or a Viet coming from Taiwan ?

"Taiwanese Traveler"

10 minutes ago, Upnotover said:

"Taiwanese Traveler"

A traveler from Taiwan was apprehended.

 

Yes I can read. Anyone can be a traveler from Taiwan.

If I traveled from Taiwan to Vietnam , I am a traveler from Taiwan.

 

Just "a traveler from Taiwan"  could be a Taiwanese guy boarded in Japan. too.

The sentence has 2 meanings.

 

The article is too short and too little information.

19 minutes ago, FlorC said:

One shouldn't have to declare it.

It's your property and you should do with it as you please.

I agree but unfortunately, governments do not. Every country has limits on what you are allowed to have in cash or gold when travelling without reporting it. how do they know if you are not smuggling drug money or scam money or that the excessive amount of money not reported was obtained illegally and being smuggled out so it can be deposited into another countries banks cleanly

7 minutes ago, thesetat said:

I agree but unfortunately, governments do not. Every country has limits on what you are allowed to have in cash or gold when travelling without reporting it. how do they know if you are not smuggling drug money or scam money or that the excessive amount of money not reported was obtained illegally and being smuggled out so it can be deposited into another countries banks cleanly

merely declaring that you have a large amount of gold does not have any bearing as to where it came from or how you paid for it

 

Taiwanese man arrested in Vietnam for smuggling nearly 2kg of gold

 

Hanoi, June 26 (CNA) A Taiwanese passenger was arrested by Vietnamese authorities on Wednesday for attempting to smuggle nearly 2 kilograms of gold through Noi Bai International Airport in Hanoi, according to Vietnamese media.

Vietnamnet reported that the gold, worth more than US$215,000 (NT$6.37 million/5.5 billion Vietnamese dong), was hidden inside four camera lenses.

 

...

 

The bars had been carefully shaped to evade both x-ray scanners and manual inspections, officials said.

2 hours ago, FlorC said:

One shouldn't have to declare it.

It's your property and you should do with it as you please.

And I shouldn't have to pay taxes so Murikkka can send billions $$$ annually to Israel but there ya go.

2 hours ago, radiochaser said:

The bars had been carefully shaped to evade both x-ray scanners and manual inspections, officials said.

Gold is easily detected by xrays. Manual inspections , I understand , the guy did a good job.

Lot's of YT video's on it.

It shows up very dark on scans.

I researched it , because I want to get my gold out of the EU dictatorship,

now coming with asset registers , CBDC and capital controls.

 

Even in the shape of the lens , nearly 2kg would have been detected.

On 6/27/2025 at 9:55 AM, snoop1130 said:

......decided to inspect the passenger's black suitcase, which contained no checked baggage.

Huh?

10 hours ago, FlorC said:

Gold is easily detected by xrays. Manual inspections , I understand , the guy did a good job.

Lot's of YT video's on it.

It shows up very dark on scans.

I researched it , because I want to get my gold out of the EU dictatorship,

now coming with asset registers , CBDC and capital controls.

 

Even in the shape of the lens , nearly 2kg would have been detected.

I found that odd too.   

20 hours ago, FlorC said:

If I traveled from Taiwan to Vietnam , I am a traveler from Taiwan.

Yes you are, but not a Taiwanese one.

Where was he headed? Gold smuggling in Asia is quite a common thing to realise arbitrage profits between the price of physical gold in different countries due to regulations and taxes.

 

You can legally buy gold and transport it (probably illegally) across border, sell it, and pocket the difference based on price differentials. Arbitrage on the same day market, as opposed to speculation. They still run the risk of intraday fluctuations.

 

I believe Japan is a popular destination. 

On 6/29/2025 at 3:44 PM, HappyExpat57 said:

The Google box said there's no law against traveling with large amounts of gold in either country, but you need to declare it. Absolutely foolish to try and skirt that law, gonna cost all that gold and then some.

Not entirely true.   The limit is 300 grams per passenger………. if you have more, you have to declare it, and better have a good reason for bringing it in.  I was stopped because I claimed 450 grams, coming in from Phnom Penh, they asked me what the excess 150 grams were for.  I told them my daughter was getting married and it was a marraige gift.  After much deliberation they wrote something in my passport and let me pass thru, even my wife could not understand what they wrote, just some gibberish.  One young immigration officer came along side of me and whispered  ‘Good Excuse  they would have confiscated anything over 300 grams'.