Shooting to catch sand-sucking boats at night

At noon on July 1, Colonel Pham Van Ngan - Deputy Director of Vinh Long Provincial Police confirmed that early the same morning, while patrolling, the Working Group including the Department of Natural Resources and Environment and the Environmental Police of Long Ho District (Vinh Long Province) fired warning shots when they discovered some barges illegally pumping sand and running away.

Authorities made a record of the illegal sand dredging boat.

Accordingly, at around 4:30 a.m. the same day, in My Phu 2 Hamlet, Dong Phu Commune, Long Ho District, the Working Group encountered two boats illegally dredging sand on the Tien River. When they discovered the inspection force, the drivers of the two boats started the engines to escape, forcing a police officer to fire a shot and stop the vehicles for inspection. However, the Working Group only captured one boat, the other escaped.

The boat that was just caught was driven by Mr. Le Trong Nghia (44 years old), and on the boat was also Mr. Bui Van Dom (47 years old), both living in the same Dong Phu commune, Long Ho district. The boat had no registration number, had already dredged 5m³ of sand and could not present any relevant documents.

Previously, at around 2 a.m. on July 1, the task force also caught two boats and two barges on the Co Chien River (in Long Ho district) illegally pumping sand. When the authorities discovered them, the “sand bandits” drove away.

Vehicle seized.

The task force chased but only caught a barge with registration number TG-12773, operated by captain Ho Van Na (34 years old), accompanied by Mr. Phan Van Le (40 years old, both residing in Ben Tre province). Upon inspection, the barge operator could not present relevant documents, and the vehicle had only sucked up about 3m³ of sand.

According to Tien Phong