Business was booming for an illegal condom factory in the Tan Uyen Town of Binh Duong Province in Vietnam. They were contributing to the more than 500 to 600 million condoms sold in the country each year. From their small warehouse, thousands of condoms were packed, processed, and sent to market on a regular basis.
Obviously, safe sex was being practiced on an industrial level in Vietnam.
Health and safety are major considerations when setting up a company that processes prophylactics, but it is also an expensive business to run. There were reams of rules and regulations that had to be adhered to, which cost a lot of money. The owner of this particular condom factory decided to trade illegally, to go underground, and avoid all these pesky restrictions in an effort to maximize profits.
It’s not known how long the business had been in production for but the system was working, the overheads were low, the competition was being undercut, safety regulations were being skirted, and excellent profits were being made. But all good things must come to an end.
No one knows where the actual tip-off came from, but when the authorities were alerted to the presence of this potential health hazard right under their noses they were determined to put a stop to the illegal factory immediately.
On September 19, 2020, they carried out a raid on the facility to put a stop to the sales of these unbranded condoms, and arrest the entrepreneurial owner, Pham Thi Thanh Ngoc, aged 32.
Incredibly, over 320,000 illegal contraband condoms were discovered in various stages of preparedness, weighing well over 360 kilos.
All the workers and the owner were hauled down to the police station, where the confessions began. After all, they had been caught red-handed, had no permits or legal company documents to show to the officers, and simply couldn’t deny that the condoms were being illegally packaged and sold.
But that wasn’t the shocking part. All this information the police already knew from their investigations so it was no surprise to them. What they learned next they just couldn’t believe.
When she was pressed further, the owner came clean and told them everything.
Once a month a person whose name she did not know would visit the premises with a consignment of condoms, thousands of them. It was her employee’s job to prepare and pack them for delivery to their waiting clients, who were themselves benefitting mightily from the cheap prices offered to them, so asked no questions.
Jaws dropped and eyes widened when Pham Thi Thanh Ngoc explained the process in more detail. She revealed that the condoms were used, that they had been collected and delivered to her in their second-hand state. It was the job of her staff to clean the used contraceptives thoroughly, freshen them up a bit, dry them out, reshape them, and get them ready for their second lease of life.
Thousands of these repurposed condoms had been sent out from this illegal warehouse over an unknown period of time, an unsuspecting public not practicing sex as safe as they thought.
This was definitely a case of recycling at its best. Or worse. Depending on your point of view.