Commune police were surrounded and beaten while preventing illegal sand mining.

When reminding two barge drivers about illegally mining sand, a commune police officer was hit in the leg with a tube.

On the afternoon of August 31, based on information from local people, Mr. Dau Van Phuong (police officer of An Phu commune, Vu Quang district, Ha Tinh) and two people from the Department of Natural Resources and Environment and the district police drove a motorboat to Ngan Sau river (section passing through An Phu commune) to stop some barges that were illegally pumping sand.

Illegal sand mining has been taking place on the Ngan Sau River flowing through An Phu commune for many years. Photo: D.H

When approaching, the working group was hit by Nguyen Dinh Son (30 years old) and Le Quoc Khanh (27 years old) driving a barge into the motorboat. Son and Khanh started a fight, using a pipe to hit Mr. Phuong, injuring his leg.

"Mr. Phuong suffered a dislocated kneecap and was transferred to Nghe An General Hospital 115 for treatment," said Mr. Tran Van Thu, Chairman of An Phu Commune People's Committee.

Vu Quang District Police are temporarily detaining Son and Khanh. Authorities said that illegal sand mining on the Ngan Sau River has been occurring sporadically for a long time and has recently shown signs of increasing.

According to VNE