Fined 82 million, car owner denies transporting "super giant" tree for major general
Mr. Nguyen Hai Son - Director of Hai Son Company, said that he received the order to transport three ancient banyan trees for a pagoda from Dak Lak to Hanoi, not the trees of a traffic police major general as reported online.
On the afternoon of April 1, Major Vo Dong Anh - Deputy Head of Phu Loc Traffic Police Station, Thua Thien - Hue Provincial Police, said that three tractor-trailers carrying three "super giant" ancient trees were temporarily detained by the Traffic Police and fined nearly 82 million VND.
Accordingly, on the evening of March 30, while on patrol, the traffic police discovered three tractor-trailers with Quang Binh province license plates traveling on National Highway 1, through Loc Dien commune, Phu Loc district, so they ordered the vehicles to stop.
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| One of three "super giant" ancient trees temporarily detained by the Traffic Police of Thua Thien - Hue province. Photo: Thanh Vo |
Upon inspection, all three vehicles were found to have violated the regulations for overloading and over-sized vehicles. The vehicle owners were also unable to present special driving permits, so the traffic police issued tickets, fined a total of nearly VND82 million, and had their driver’s licenses revoked for 1-3 months.
Currently, three ancient trees have been cut down and placed in the Hue bypass area, through Phu Bai ward, Huong Thuy town.
Each of the ancient trees is about 15m long, with a circumference of more than 6m, and the top has many long branches. The root ball of each tree has a circumference of about 15m, and is covered with many layers of canvas on the outside.
The drivers declared that they were transporting trees for hire for Hai Son Company in Dong Hoi City, Quang Binh Province.
Mr. Nguyen Hai Son - Director of Hai Son Company, said that the company received a request to transport three ancient banyan trees for a pagoda from Dak Lak to Hanoi.
During the transportation of the tree, a monk from the temple followed the car.
After being fined by Thua Thien - Hue Traffic Police, the company handed over the tree to the temple representative and brought the tractor to Quang Binh for repair.
"We have all the proper transaction documents for transporting trees to the pagoda. It is untrue that we transported trees to a major general as seen online. As for the fine, we will pay it in full to the authorities in Hue next week," said Mr. Son.
Previously, on social networks, there was a lot of information that the convoy carrying this giant tree belonged to Major General Nguyen Huu Danh, former Deputy Director of the Traffic Police Department. However, in the press, Mr. Danh denied this information.
