The incident started at about 9:30 am on May 10. At Km21, National Highway 1A (section passing Dong Kinh ward, Lang Son province), the Traffic Police force in coordination with Market Management Team No. 1 requested to stop and inspect the Phong Hien passenger car (Special route Son La - Lang Son).
Through inspection, functional forces discovered on the car 9 sacks containing a large amount of dried cicada carcasses with a total weight of 80kg.
At the scene, the driver could not present invoices or documents proving the origin and confessed to only being hired to transport at a freight rate of 200,000 VND/bag.
Because they could not contact the owner at that time, Market Management Team No. 1 made a record and took the entire shipment to the headquarters for sealing, waiting for handling.
Notably, during the working process, the car company continuously questioned the functional agency's inspection of a "natural product".
The clip recording the incident with words guiding public opinion has been spread on social networks, causing many mixed opinions.
Mr. Chu Ngoc Ha - Head of Market Management Team No. 1 spoke up to affirm that cicada carcasses (traditional medicine name is Thuyen dey) are a valuable medicinal herb.
When circulating on the market in large quantities to supply to traditional medicine facilities, it is mandatory to have documents proving the origin to avoid smuggled and poor quality goods.
After the announcements from functional agencies, by the morning of May 12, the owner of the batch of 80kg of cicada carcasses was directly present at the headquarters of Market Management Team No. 1 to work.
On the afternoon of May 13, the final developments of the incident were announced. Leaders of Market Management Team No. 1 confirmed that the owner of the goods had provided complete dossiers, purchase lists and related documents to prove the origin of the above medicinal herbs.
After comparing and appraising the dossier to basically meet the requirements according to legal regulations, functional forces immediately completed the handover procedures and returned all 80kg of dried cicada carcasses to the owner.
From a legal perspective, Dr. Dang Van Cuong (Head of Chinh Phap Law Office, Hanoi Bar Association) assessed that the market management force's making of a record and temporary seizure of the shipment for verification is completely in accordance with its functions and tasks.
Lawyer Cuong clearly analyzed the legal boundaries that many people often misunderstand.
Accordingly, when people go to the forest to pick up dried cicada carcasses for common use or resold in small quantities among the people, the law does not require declaration.
However, when collecting dozens or hundreds of kilograms for business, trading or making medicinal material raw materials, that shipment is subject to the regulation of commercial law.
At this time, the shop owner is required to have a purchase list from the people (with a commitment to the picking location) or a sales invoice to prove legality.
The lawyer emphasized: "The temporary seizure of goods does not mean that functional agencies default to people's violations, but is a normal professional measure to verify. This is to ensure market transparency and protect consumer safety for ingredients used in traditional medicine.
The incident of 80kg of cicada carcasses in Lang Son has closed happily thanks to the cooperation from the cargo owner and the reasonable and lawful working method of Market Management Team No. 1.
However, this is an extremely profound practical lesson. Businesses, purchasing natural products (such as medicinal herbs, forest mushrooms, raw medicinal herbs... ) and transportation companies need to proactively create purchase lists, keep invoices and documents throughout the transportation process.
That is not only a way to comply with the law, but also a "magic charm" to protect their own assets from the risk of being confiscated and fined up to tens of millions of VND.
