Sweeping away "gold thieves" in the Huoi Hang mountain area (Que Phong district)

(Baonghean.vn) -On April 4, 2013, officers and soldiers of the Environmental Police Department, the Protection and Mobile Police Department of the provincial police coordinated with the Mineral Inspection Team established under Decision 163 of the Provincial People's Committee; the district police and representatives of the functional agencies of Que Phong district and Cam Muon commune organized a raid on "gold thieves" in the Huoi Hang mountain area (Cam Muon commune, Que Phong).

It is known that before the raid team arrived, the gold mine in Huoi Hang mountain area often had 600 - 1000 "gold thieves", including brokers from Thai Nguyen, Hai Phong, Vinh city and people from Cam Muon, Quang Phong, Chau Thon communes... coming to work for hire. Witnessing with their own eyes, the gold mine was over 1000 m2 wide but had 50 - 60 tents that could accommodate dozens of people, dozens of homemade water tanks and hundreds of large holes several dozen meters deep.

In Nghe An, illegal gold mining occurs in many places, however, nowhere is it as dangerous as in the Huoi Hang gold area. Because after going down the gold pits, "gold thieves" cut branches through the mountain to mine, causing the mountain to have holes at the base, and many large cracks appeared on the surface of the mountain... Below are the images recorded by a group of reporters from Nghe An Newspaper in the Huoi Hang gold area.

Huoi Hang gold field seen from another mountain.



Roadside barriers were built by local people with permission from the Commune People's Committee to prevent buffalo from roaming freely and to collect fees from motorbikes and cars entering to make gold. Photo: NH



Police officers inspect illegal gold mining. Photo: NH



People left, sand suction and gold panning machines were left lying around. Photo: NH





"Gold thieves" banners are everywhere.









Gold mines deep in the mountains.



The search force inspected the tunnels and holes of "gold thieves".



Hearing that there was a raid, many "gold thieves" left the area.



The stream flowing from the source is always a thick red color. Photo: NH





However, there are still many "gold thieves" staying at the site.



Due to the gap in the base, many large cracks appeared on the mountain surface.

Long - Hai - Lan