Hanoi (VNA) - Thecrackdown on counterfeit and smuggled wines and cigars has tightened as the Tetholiday approaches. However, it seems that the fight has not been effective,with many consumers still wary when shopping for goods at markets in Hanoi.

Minh Truong, a resident in Hanoi’s Hoan Kiem district, said that he struggledto buy foreign wines.

Truong once bought a fake bottle of wine sold at a liquor shop even though hechecked the wine carefully.

“It is quite difficult to distinguish between fake and authentic products asthe bottle, label and even the colour of fake wine look identical to the realone,” he said.

Quynh Huong, another consumer in Hoan Kiem district, said that she no longertrusted the liquor stores in town. She usually bought wine from friends whotravelled abroad.

“I can’t tell if a bottle of wine is real or fake, so I’d rather not buy ithere,” she said.

Under current regulations, alcohol that is not correctly labelled with importstamps will be classified as counterfeit. However, it’s likely that evencertification stamps can not guarantee genuine products.

Pham Ngoc Hung, vice chairman of the Vietnam Anti-Counterfeiting Fund, told theLao dong (Labour) newspaper that there were many tricks used to make counterfeitwines look like those from famous brands. Violators could substitutepoor-quality alcohol into a used bottle of wine to trick consumers, or fake thebottle, cork, labelling and even certification stamps to sell the product.

Hung said it was challenging for consumers to tell the difference between fakeand real products at a glance and they could easily be cheated.

Recently, many cases of fake imported alcohol have been discovered.

Last October, more than 300 bottles of wine lacking clear origins were seizedwhen they were transported to the central province of Thanh Hoa forconsumption.

On the same month, city police, in co-operation with police in Hai Phong Cityand Thanh Hoa and Nghe An provinces seized nearly 5,000 bottles of fakealcohol, which was a mixture of imported and domestic wine and labelled withfalse certification stamps. The bottles were made to look like well-knownbrands from Germany, Australia, Scotland and the US.

Last year, stories about the production of fake imported wine in Long Biêndistrict’s Nguyen Son street were published in local press. In shining a lighton the manufacture and trade of fake alcohol, consumers began to question thequality of imported wines sold at the city’s markets.

Meanwhile, the crackdown on such fake products seems to have had little effect.

Figures from the city’s Market Watch showed that inspectors made raids in 60cases of trading and importing wines. Of that, 48 cases faced fines of over 157million VND (6,908 USD) and 210 bottles, or 2,203 litres of alcohol, wasseized.

Dr Nguyen Trung Nguyen of Hanoi’s Bach Mai Hospital said that cases of alcoholpoisoning increased remarkably before and after Tet. The reason was theincreased consumption of fake alcohol.

Imported cigars are among luxury goods purchased for the Tet holiday. Althoughselling this kind of product requires strict business conditions, they havebeen found at many stores in the city.

Quang Anh, a cigar smoker, said that he was surprised to find many rare andexpensive types of cigars being sold at numerous stores in the city.

Cohiba Behike cigars are one example. The limited and luxurious cigars arenormally sold at about 1,500 USD per box, but they have been advertised at just5 million - 6 million VND (220-264 USD) per box in Hanoi.

Duy Sang, another cigar smoker, said that cigars were advertised as importedfrom Cuba or Europe, but sellers failed to show any papers to prove theirorigin.

Last year, the Ministry of Finance tightened regulations on importing cigars toVietnam, in which a person could only carry 20 cigars when entering Vietnam,instead of 100 cigars as previously.

Last November, the city’s inspectors seized 389 cigars sold at a shop on TrungKinh street as the shop owner failed to show the required papers.

Currently, Vietnam National Tobacco Corporation is the only unit allowed toimport and distribute cigars in Vietnam.

A representative from the city’s Market Watch’s Unit 1 said that they wouldcontinue to investigate shops selling cigars in the city and deter violations.-VNA