Lao Cai border police said March 14 they caught a Vietnamese teenager at the border gate in the northern province of Lao Cai illegally carrying 4 kilograms of gold.
The authorities said they discovered Chu Van Doanh, 17, attempting to carry four gold bars from Hekou, China into Vietnam.
According to police, each bar measured 11 centimeters long, 7 centimeters wide and 0.5 centimeters thick. The bars also had “SGE” and “Au-99.95” engravings.
Doanh said he was paid VND200,000 by another Vietnamese man to carry the bars from Hekou to Cau Chui in Lao Cai.
The police confiscated the gold and took Doanh into temporary custody for further investigation.