According to the Quang Tri Provincial Border Guards, residents living around the border in Huong Hoa District previously only needed to show their identity cards to travel to Laos, but now they are required to show some other papers.

Previously between 150-200 people travelled through the border gate daily, but the number has sharply fallen over the past three days after immigration activities were tightened on June 23.

The move came right after the Ministry of Public Security prosecuted a large gold smuggling case at Lao Bao International Border Gate on June 23.

According to a report from the ministry, an 18-member gold smuggling ring was led by a Quang Tri resident who had bought gold from Laos into Vietnam via the Lao Bao Border Gate. The ring then sold the smuggled gold to many jewellery shops in Vietnam to earn illegitimate profits.

The ring smuggled more than three tonnes of gold worth around VND5 trillion (USD213 million) from early 2022 until recently.