Brought an excavator to destroy a neighbor's house because of 40 cm of dirt on the road surface.

(Baonghean.vn) - Believing that his neighbor was building a house on his land, Mr. Bac hired an excavator to destroy part of the house.

On October 13, Colonel Luong The Loc, Chief of Thanh Chuong District Police, said that the unit is still assessing assets to determine the damage in the case of neighbors destroying each other's houses due to a land dispute.

“If the property damage is determined to be 2 million VND or more, this person may be prosecuted for property destruction,” said Colonel Loc.

Mr. Bac used an excavator to dig up the foundation of his neighbor's house. Photo. HT

Previously, on September 22, Mr. Tran Dinh Bac (51 years old) hired an excavator to destroy part of the house, claiming that his neighbor Nguyen Duy Huu (village 5, Thanh My commune, Thanh Chuong) built a house on his land.

“At around 4pm, I received a call from an unknown number telling me to open the door, or else the house would be demolished. I said I was away. When I got home, I saw someone using a sledgehammer to smash a big hole, then using an excavator to destroy my house. They even dug up the foundation of the house,” said Nguyen Duy Huu.

According to Mr. Pham Xuan Luc, Chairman of Thanh My Commune People's Committee, the cause of the incident was a land dispute. "These two houses are adjacent to each other, disputing about 40 cm of land on the road surface with a depth of about 20 meters," Mr. Luc said, adding that the dispute had lasted for many years. Recently, Mr. Huu returned from abroad and built a house encroaching on this disputed land, leading to the incident.

"Mr. Huu's construction of a house in this area was wrong. When Mr. Huu started building, Mr. Bac's family objected. At that time, Mr. Huu said that when Mr. Bac's family needed it, they would return it. Mr. Bac later complained, and the village came to make a record and suspended Mr. Huu's construction. However, the household continued to build secretly," said Mr. Luc.

Mr. Huu's newly built house (left) encroaches on disputed land. Photo: Tien Hung.

Angry about the demolition of his house, and believing that the local authorities had not intervened, on the morning of October 13, Nguyen Duy Huu posted the incident on Facebook. “I went to the commune police station to report to the police, and saw Mr. Tinh, the commune police chief, playing volleyball. I said: Sir, someone is destroying my house. Mr. Tinh said: "It's right to destroy. And it's after work hours now...", Mr. Huu wrote.

This person also said that he went to the house of Mr. Nguyen Huu Luong, Vice Chairman of Thanh My Commune People's Committee, to report the incident, but he did not go to the scene to stop it. "When I went to the Vice Chairman's house to report the incident, he immediately said: "It's been destroyed, what can I do now? I can't glue the house back together...", Mr. Huu wrote.

Just 12 hours after being posted on social media, the post with the image of the excavator destroying Mr. Huu’s house received nearly 6,000 likes, nearly 7,000 shares and thousands of comments. Most of the comments criticized the local authorities for not handling the incident.

Meanwhile, speaking to Nghe An Newspaper reporter, Mr. Vo Van Tinh, Chief of Thanh My Commune Police, said that the words Mr. Huu shared on social media about him were not true. “At that time, it was around 5:30 p.m., just after work hours, the brothers were playing volleyball when Huu came to report. I immediately sent a police officer to verify the incident. I did not say the words Mr. Huu shared online,” Mr. Tinh said, adding that the police officer, after arriving at the scene, called to confirm the incident as reported, however, at this time, the house demolition had stopped.

“At that time, no one else was breaking in, so we cannot say that we did not intervene. We also made a record of the incident. However, at that time, a traffic accident occurred in the area, and the commune police had to go there to protect the scene, so the house breaking incident had to wait until the next morning to continue handling it,” said Mr. Tinh.

Mr. Nguyen Huu Luong, Vice Chairman of Thanh My Commune People's Committee, also said that Mr. Huu's statements were not true. "Mr. Huu came to my house to report. I asked him if he was still destroying things, but he said no. After that, I advised him to calm down and that the authorities would handle the matter. Even if I go now, I won't be able to solve the problem," Mr. Luong said.

Thanh Chuong District Police then began an investigation. After several rounds of questioning, Mr. Bac admitted to using an excavator to destroy his neighbor’s house because he thought it was his land.

The incident is still under investigation.

Tien Hung