illed for a while, gold thieves return
Mr. Tran Quang Long - Head of the Protection Department, Ben Hai River Basin Protection Forest Management Board said that after Lao Dong Newspaper published a series of articles investigating the situation of gold bandits operating in protective forests managed by the unit, the forces have coordinated to handle the situation, so the gold bandits have temporarily disappeared.
In sub-areas where illegal gold mining shelters have occurred such as 582, 583 (Vinh O commune, Vinh Linh district, Quang Tri province) and 575H (Vinh Ha commune, Vinh Linh district), the Ben Hai River Basin Protection Forest Management Board has established 3 checkpoints.
Up to this point, in the 3 sub-areas, it is basically stable, the forest protection force coordinates with the police and local authorities to basically control well. However, on June 3, the patrol force including forest protection and Vinh O commune police discovered traces of gold bandits in sub-area 576 (Vinh O commune).
Through inspection, sub-area 576 has a location where gold bandits set up willingness and made wooden markers to serve the digging of gold; a location where a frame has been set up and there are many plastic tarpaulins and items for the gold handling that have just been transported here by gold bandits. "The interdisciplinary forces have broken up the camp and destroyed the belongings of the gold bandits at the two locations" - Mr. Tran Quang Long said.
It is known that the location with traces of gold bandits is located deep in the protective forest, it takes 2 hours by motorbike from Vinh O commune to get there. The camps were built by gold bandits next to the gold mines formed before, to serve the digging of gold, the gold bandits brought water from the stream through plastic pipes.
Before destroying the gold tunnel, gold bandits continue to persist
Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Hung - Director of the Ben Hai River Basin Protection Forest Management Board said that sub-area 576 belongs to Vinh O commune but is adjacent to Vinh Ha commune, to enter this sub-area, one does not need to go to Vinh O, but there are many routes, so control is more difficult.
To prevent gold bandits, from June 3 to now, every day the above unit has mobilized many forest rangers to coordinate with Vinh O Commune Police to search.
"Like on June 9, we held a Congress but also had to assign people to patrol. Other sub-areas are usually unique routes, just need to block at important points, if strangers enter the forest to grasp it, while in sub-area 576, it is much more difficult" - Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Hung said.
Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Hung added that the forest protection force had sent a large number of forces to stay in the area to prevent gold bandits, but the large forest area could not be completely controlled. Just prevent gold from being stolen from one location to another, so we hope that the authorities will collapse illegal gold mines in the protective forest.
"Only by breaking the gold mine soon can we hope to prevent gold bandits here" - Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Hung affirmed.
Previously, since the beginning of April 2025, a group of reporters from Lao Dong Newspaper directly approached the Khe De protective forest area (sub-zone 583) and recorded the scene of gold bandits setting up many willinglies, digging mountains, and blowing up illegal gold mining machines as permitted. After that, the People's Committee of Quang Tri province directed the authorities to investigate and clarify the responsibility of the collective and individuals for the rampant gold bandits in Vinh O protective forest.
Mr. Hoang Nam - Acting Chairman of the People's Committee of Quang Tri province also assigned the Provincial Military Command to preside over and coordinate with the Department of Agriculture and Environment, the People's Committee of Vinh Linh district and related units to develop and implement a plan to collapse and destroy all illegal gold mines in the protective forest area in Vinh Linh district. However, up to now, the survey and statistics of illegal gold mines in the protective forest have not been implemented, meaning it is not clear when the destruction of gold mines will be carried out.
