Strictly handle acts of destroying crops and livestock of people in Nghe An

Reprehensible behavior

Recently, on November 19, 2024, 4 households in Bai Say village, Dinh Son commune (Anh Son) reported to the authorities that their adjacent fish ponds had many dead fish, suspected of being poisoned.

Upon receiving the report, Anh Son District Police and related units conducted a scene investigation, verification and clarification. Initial preliminary results determined that the number of damaged fish was very large, including many species: black carp, grass carp, bighead carp, bighead carp, common carp, tilapia...

Conducting an investigation, Anh Son District Police identified the perpetrator as Nguyen Minh Hoi, born in 1983, residing in Cam Thang village, Cam Son, Anh Son district.

Initially, Hoi confessed that due to a misunderstanding with the family of Mr. Vo Van Ng. (one of the fish farmers) about an incident from May 2024, he went online to buy fish poison.

Taking advantage of the fact that on November 18, 2024, Bai Say village was organizing the National Great Unity Day, and Mr. Ng's family did not go to the camp to visit the fish pond, Hoi released fish poison into the pond, causing the water in Mr. Ng's pond to spread to many other ponds, causing a mass fish death.

Hoi's trick was to hide on a hill of trees, throw a plastic bottle of fish poison into Mr. Ng's pond, then use a CPC sports gun to shoot a hole in the plastic bottle so that the fish poison could flow out.

Anh Son district police determined the number of dead fish was estimated at 1.3 tons.

Currently, the Investigation Agency of Anh Son District Police is detaining Nguyen Minh Hoi for handling according to regulations...

Previously, in April 2024, the family of Mr. Ha Ngoc Duong, 54 years old, in Hanh Lam commune (Thanh Chuong) filed a complaint with the local authorities and functional forces about the rice field that was about to be harvested and was almost completely burned with many unusual signs such as the area of ​​​​rice that died was uneven and only happened in the field that Mr. Duong's family cultivated, the rice flowers stopped growing, burned yellow in patches, some adjacent grass patches also had leaf burn phenomenon... The estimated area of ​​​​rice that was burned was about 500m2.

Mr. Duong's family suspects that bad people used chemicals to sabotage.

It is known that Mr. Duong recently borrowed this rice field from his neighbor Nguyen Nhu Sy (75 years old) to cultivate the first crop. This is also the rice field that was planted with a series of sharp spikes by bad guys after a long-standing dispute and the owner of the field, Mr. Nguyen Nhu Sy, was declared the winner by the court. While the authorities have yet to find the culprit, during the time Mr. Duong borrowed it for cultivation, this rice field was suspected of being vandalized once again.

Going back even further, on December 20, 2023, when checking the field, Mr. Vo Van Duong, born in 1982, residing in Hamlet 1, Lam Son Commune, Do Luong District, was shocked to discover that thousands of squash plants had been uprooted by thieves, cut at the base, and the stems and fruits were wilted. According to the garden owner, the squash area had been planted for more than 2 months and would be harvested in about 20 days, but was sabotaged by bad guys, causing an estimated loss of hundreds of millions of dong.

The damaged area is about 4 hectares near Lam Son Commune People's Committee, rented by Mr. Duong and Mr. Dinh Van Huynh from Tao Son Commune (Anh Son) - a person with many years of experience investing in agricultural products - to grow squash.

According to local leaders, this is the first large-scale pumpkin growing model implemented in Lam Son commune, which not only helps create jobs for many workers, but also spreads modern, concentrated, and professional agricultural production methods, promising high profits. Unfortunately, sabotage occurred, causing great damage.

Previously, in Dien Ky commune, Dien Chau district, there was also a case of destruction of the watermelon field at the harvest stage of Mr. Phan Van Ton's family (born in 1956), residing in village 2, causing damage of about 250 kg of watermelons, estimated at about 1.3 million VND.

After receiving the report, the Provincial Police directed the Dien Chau District Police to focus on investigating and clarifying the five subjects who committed the acts of theft and property destruction: Chu Van Cuong (born 2002); Chu Minh Nam (born 2004); Nguyen Trong Tan (born 2005); Nguyen Duc Phong (born 2004) and Le Trung Huan (born 2004), all residing in Quynh Dien Commune, Quynh Luu District.

These subjects confessed that they had previously stolen Mr. Ton's family's watermelon and were discovered and reminded by the people, so they were angry and after coming home from drinking, at noon on July 3, 2022, the subjects returned to Mr. Ton's family's watermelon field to take revenge.

The acts of destroying other people's property, especially crops and livestock that farmers have worked hard to grow and care for, are illegal and unethical acts that need to be dealt with severely. These acts not only cause serious property damage but also cause psychological insecurity for farmers. However, it is very difficult to prevent and track down the vandals, because most of the incidents often occur at night, in sparsely populated areas with few people passing by, making them difficult to detect.

Need to be handled seriously

According to Dr., Lawyer Nguyen Trong Hai - Director of Trong Hai & Associates Law Firm: Recently, there have been many incidents related to acts of direct infringement on other people's property such as the case of thousands of green squash trees being cut down in Do Luong district, the destruction of a watermelon garden about to be harvested in Dien Ky commune, Dien Chau district... or most recently, the case of a fish pond of people in Anh Son district being poisoned.

These acts are mainly acts of destroying or intentionally damaging other people's property, and more seriously, the property is considered the main means of livelihood of the victim and their family. The 2015 Penal Code, amended and supplemented in 2017, has specific provisions for this act.

Accordingly, for the act of destroying or intentionally damaging another person's property, if there is sufficient basis for criminal prosecution, based on the objective behavior, object, subject of the crime as well as the consequences caused by that act, the violator may be prosecuted for the crime of destroying or intentionally damaging another person's property as prescribed in Article 178 of the Penal Code 2015, amended and supplemented in 2017.

The minimum penalty for this crime is a fine from VND 10,000,000 to VND 50,000,000, non-custodial reform for up to 03 years or imprisonment from 06 months to 03 years, and the highest is imprisonment from 10 years to 20 years depending on the level of damage caused by the act.

In addition, the offender may also be fined from VND 10,000,000 to VND 100,000,000, banned from holding positions, practicing a profession or doing certain jobs from 01 to 05 years, or have part or all of his/her assets confiscated.

In addition to the above criminal sanctions, the offender must also compensate the victim for damages according to the provisions of the 2015 Civil Code.

In short, the act of destroying or intentionally damaging another person's property is an unethical act that seriously affects the property and, more importantly, the victim's economy, especially when the destroyed or damaged property is their main source of income.

This is a violation of the law that must be condemned and strictly handled according to the provisions of the law to create deterrence, stabilize the agricultural economy in particular, and security and order in rural areas in general.

On the other hand, to protect their rights and interests when they are violated, as soon as they discover incidents, people need to immediately report them to local authorities and functional forces, and actively coordinate with functional forces to clarify the incident, promptly verify, arrest and handle the subjects.