Ship caught carrying 700 tons of smuggled minerals The ship seized off Hai Phong City by marine police on January 13. Photo: Tuoi Tre Detectives from the Vietnam Marine Police Department yesterday caught a ship from central Quang Ngai Province carrying about 700 tons of undocumented minerals.  Meanwhile, another police unit seized two foreign ships that were smuggling wood off Ha Tien the same day.  The detectives, in conjunction with relevant agencies, seized the minerals from the QN 4073 off the northern port city of Hai Phong on the evening of January 13 after inspecting the suspicious vessel. Samples of the minerals have been sent to be tested, and they may be charcoal, said Major Tran Van Luong, head of detective team no. 1. The ship’s captain, Doan Van Nam, 53, of northern Quang Ninh Province’s Yen Hung District , failed to show inspectors any papers to prove the origin of the minerals.  Nam has no qualifications to be a captain, and three of the sailors onboard had none of their required papers, inspectors said. Nam said he was transporting the goods from Quang Ninh to Hai Phong.  The team escorted the ship to Hai Phong and handed it over to the Zone 1 Marine police for investigation. Yesterday, the police said the owner of the goods had not shown up to handle the case. That same day, the Zone 4 Marine Police reported that it they had temporarily detained two Cambodian-flagged ships, numbered 20031 and 20023, carrying 25 tons of rare and precious wood without documents off Ha Tien Town in the southern province of Kien Giang. The wood had been smuggled out of Cambodia, and the smugglers had hired the two ships to transport the goods to Ha Tien for sale, police said, adding they are continuing with their investigation into the case. TUOITRENEWS