Land officer jailed for hiring local men to go into the forest to cut precious wood

(Baonghean.vn) - As a commune land officerHowever, because of greed, Va Ba Xa (born 1982), residing in Tham Hin village, Nam Can commune (Ky Son) hired many local men to go into the forest to cut down precious wood for use.

Subject Va Ba Thai (left cover) at court. Photo: Lu Phu

On September 13, 2016, Va Ba Xa, a land officer of Nam Can commune (Ky Son), went to the house of Va Ba Thai, residing in Lien Son village, Nam Can commune, to hire Thai to go into the forest to cut wood for him. Thai agreed and called 3 other people, Va Ba Khua, Va Ba Long, Va Ba Co, residing in the same village, to join.

The next morning (September 14), the 5 subjects met and agreed to go into the forest to cut down the sa mu wood and saw it into 40 panels, measuring 3m long, 40cm wide, and 20cm thick. The price for each panel was 170,000 VND.

On March 15, Thai, Khua, Long and Co went together to the protective forest at the headwaters of Nam Can stream. Here, the four subjects used chainsaws to cut down two sa mu trees, then sawed them into 40 panels of different sizes and sent them to Va Ba Xa. Xa paid the above subjects 6.8 million VND.

A cut down sa mu tree. Photo: PV

On March 29, 2016, the Ky Son District Inter-sectoral Working Group, while patrolling and inspecting the forest, discovered two sa mu trees that had been cut down. Through the investigation of the Ky Son District Police Department and the appraisal results of the Forest Technology Research Institute - Vietnam Forestry Science Institute, it was concluded that the type of wood collected at Va Ba Xa's private home matched the wood sample collected at the scene, which was sa mu wood, group IIA, an endangered plant species that needs to be strictly protected. Through the struggle, Xa and his accomplices admitted their crimes.

The volume of wood illegally cut down by Va Ba Xa and his accomplices was 46,158 m3.³, exceeded the level prescribed for administrative sanctions. The violation falls under Clause 1, Article 12 of the Law on Forest Protection and Development 2004.

At the trial opened on September 26, 2017, the People's Court of Ky Son district sentenced defendant Va Ba Xa to 24 months in prison, and defendants Va Ba Thai, Va Ba Khua, Va Ba Long, and Va Ba Co were sentenced to 2 years in prison but given suspended sentences./.

Lu Phu