Rampant protection of harvesters

(Baonghean) - In recent years, when mechanization has been promoted in agricultural production, many thugs have taken this opportunity to make illegal profits by protecting harvesters, causing people and harvester owners to worry and feel insecure every harvest season.

People are miserable because of protection racket.

At this time, people in Hien Son commune (Do Luong) are harvesting the summer-autumn crop. Right from the beginning of the season, the protection rackets have been harassing and causing trouble. These people are Le Van Ly (born in 1985) and Nguyen Quang Canh (born in 1993), not outsiders but local people in Hien Son commune.

When the rice began to ripen, Ly and Canh brought the combine harvester back with the intention of harvesting the entire rice field in Hien Son commune. Harvester owners from other areas who wanted to harvest in the area had to sign a contract prepared by them, and pay 30,000 VND/sao. Otherwise, they would threaten, destroy, and not allow them to do business. With Ly and Canh's bad past of being in and out of prison, the harvester owners had to turn a blind eye.

Harvesting rice with a combine. Illustration photo

Not only that, people who do not rent harvesters that they have protected also have to pay unreasonable "taxes". Ms. Nguyen Thi Hau, a resident of Hien Son commune, was upset: "It's my field, my rice, but if I don't rent their harvesters, I have to sign a contract to pay. If I don't comply, they won't let me harvest or keep the rice. I'm very angry but I'm worried about the rice spoiling so I have to be patient...".

Using the same method, 3 subjects in Thanh Chuong district, Tran Dinh Hung (born in 1992), Tran Quoc Dat (born in 1995) and Nguyen Canh Tu (born in 2000) colluded with each other to form a group specializing in protecting harvesters. Whenever any harvester owner from another place came to work for the people, they forced them to pay money. Many people said that not only did they beat them, the protection subjects also used the trick of spreading steel bars in the rice fields to damage the harvesters so that the harvesters did not dare to oppose their "orders".

Even if the harvester owner cheats them and collects a lower harvest fee from the people, they are willing to use violence. This case happened in Nghi Loc district at the end of May. Mr. Cao Van Suu (residing in Dien Chau district) brought a harvester to the field in Nghi Xa commune (Nghi Loc) to harvest rice for hire, then Vo Van Hoang - a famous protection racket in the area appeared and asked Mr. Suu to pay him 40,000 VND/sao. Mr. Suu did not agree and was immediately beaten by Hoang.

Fearing his life, Mr. Suu had to give Hoang 16 million VND in protection money for harvesting rice and 1 million VND in "fine" for false declaration.

Stop the protection racket

In previous years, Yen Thanh district with its large rice growing area was considered a fertile land for many protection rackets to make a living. Understanding this situation, from the beginning of the winter-spring crop until this summer-autumn crop, Yen Thanh district has issued official dispatches to direct and pay close attention to the issue of ensuring security in rice harvesting. Accordingly, the district People's Committee assigned the main task to agricultural cooperatives in organizing contracts with machine owners according to specific harvesting locations, offering appropriate prices, not giving protection rackets the opportunity to do business.

3 protection rackets were arrested at Thanh Chuong District Police. Photo: Contributor

In Bac Thanh commune, this summer-autumn crop, the whole commune has 280 hectares of rice ready for harvest. Bac Thanh Agricultural Cooperative has contracted with 7 harvester owners from Nam Dinh, Thai Binh and some other districts in the province to harvest rice for the people in the commune.

According to the contract, before putting the machine into operation, the machine owner must pay a fee of 500,000 VND to the Cooperative to repair bridges and roads in the field after harvest and pay a deposit of 1 million VND/machine (after the harvest is completed, the Cooperative will return the deposit to the machine owner).

The harvester owner is responsible for harvesting all the rice fields of the people; the price for harvesting rice is agreed at 150,000 VND/sao of dry land, 160,000 VND/sao of deep land. For the cooperative, it will coordinate with the police force to ensure maximum security and order so that the harvester owners can harvest rice with peace of mind.

Yen Thanh district currently has 47 agricultural cooperatives in 38 communes and towns. Promoting the role of cooperatives to end protectionism is considered by Yen Thanh as the optimal solution up to this point.

However, Mr. Nguyen Vuong Ngoc - Vice Chairman of Yen Thanh district said: "Not all cooperatives in the district can play this role. Many cooperatives are not strong enough in all aspects to perform service functions, so people still rely on "brokers" to call them and then give them commissions, giving protection subjects the opportunity to do business."

Since June 2017, Nghe An Police have clarified 3 cases of harvester protection, arresting 6 subjects. To ensure security and order in the areas and prevent potential risks from becoming complicated, the leaders of Nghe An Provincial Police have requested the police of units and localities to regularly monitor the local area, coordinate with the commune and town police to proactively grasp the situation, continue to verify, urgently clarify the groups and subjects that have been operating protection to fight and arrest, resolutely not let this type of crime run rampant.

In addition, the police force is also reviewing and listing groups and individuals with the ability and suspicious signs of protection racket activities and property extortion to put them under management, and at the same time, have deterrent measures to prevent them from committing crimes.

Phuong Thao - Quynh Trang