Police in the communist country have warned people they face arrest if they set off firecrackers to welcome the Year of the Rat on the night from Wednesday to Thursday or anytime over the Tet holiday, the country's biggest festival.

Mobile police units have been deployed to the northern Lang Son and Quang Ninh provinces to stop the illegal trade of firecrackers, which were banned in 1995, from neighbouring China, the state-run Vietnam News daily reported.

Boats disguised as fishing boats often carry up to five tonnes of firecrackers through Quang Ninh and then transfer the contraband to other northern provinces for wholesale, the Vietnam News Agency reported. -- AFP