Prosecution recommended for couple who destroyed 3.6 hectares of protected forest.
A married couple from Tien Lanh commune, Tien Phuoc district, Quang Nam province, have been recommended by investigators to be prosecuted by the prosecutor's office for the crime of destroying forests.
The Tien Lanh protective forest was destroyed by arson organized by the couple Bay to plant acacia trees - Photo: LE TRUNG
On January 14th, the Tien Phuoc District Police announced that the district's investigative police agency had completed its investigation into the criminal case of forest destruction in the Tien Lanh protected forest area and recommended that the District People's Procuracy prosecute two defendants.
The two defendants recommended for prosecution are Phung Van Bay (40 years old, residing in Hamlet 9, Tien Lanh Commune) and Nguyen Thi Viet (39 years old, Mr. Bay's wife).
According to the investigation findings, around the end of March 2017, Bay went to the Doi Lon area of Na Cau stream (belonging to plot 5, plot 6 of sub-area 556, Tien Lanh protective forest) and conceived the idea of cutting down forest trees to plant acacia trees.
In early April 2017, Bay and his wife set up a camp in the area and cleared forest trees for 45 days. At the end of June 2017, Bay went to the Doi Lon area, burned the cleared forest, and bought acacia seeds to plant on the burned forest area with his wife.
In July 2017, Bay inspected the area where he had pruned the acacia trees and noticed that the trees were growing unevenly and had a lot of grass and vines, so he hired seven more local people to clear the weeds and re-prune the acacia trees.
In August 2017, while the workers of the Bay couple were planting acacia trees in the area, they were discovered by authorities and a report was filed.
During the investigation, the police determined that the area of forest destroyed in plots 5 and 6 of sub-area 556 was 36,367.5 square meters.2The volume of timber lost is 275,883 m³.3The volume of commercial timber is 165,530 m³.3.
The group of laborers working for Bay were unaware that he and his wife were destroying the forest, so the police did not take any action.
As previously reported, in connection with this serious deforestation case, the Standing Committee of the Tien Phuoc District Party Committee has disciplined three officials from Tien Lanh commune. Specifically, Mr. Vo Hong Nhiem, the chairman of Tien Lanh commune, was dismissed from his position.
