Thanh Hoa is a locality where illegal sand mining - known as "sand bandits" - has occurred for many years. In the past 2 months, the police have prosecuted the case and arrested many groups of sand bandits in the area.
Explaining this situation, Mr. Pham Van Hoanh - Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture and Environment (formerly, Mr. Hoanh was Deputy Director of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment of Thanh Hoa) said that the reason for the recent rampant sand bandits was that "sand bandits" (called Mr. Hoanh) took advantage of the time of dissolving the district level and merging communes to illegally exploit.
Mr. Pham Van Hoanh said: "I would like to clarify that no one denies that sand mining can affect the riverbed, but it is necessary to recognize the reality that if there is no dredging solution and no mining license in suitable locations, the riverbed will continue to be silted up, causing flow congestion".
According to Mr. Hoanh, recently, Thanh Hoa has granted 25 sand mining licenses but the total amount of money collected from the licenses is very small and he concluded: "The licensing is not for the purpose of collecting money at all costs. The main purpose is to serve the needs of local infrastructure development, economy - society".
However, when Lao Dong reporter asked: Violations in illegal sand mining have been pointed out by the police, many violators have been arrested, so what is the responsibility of the state management agency for this field? Mr. Pham Van Hoanh did not answer this question clearly.
In recent years, the banks of the Ma River and Chu River have had many landslides. Hundreds of hectares of people's crops have been swept into the river due to illegal sand dredging. Thanh Hoa province has also had to spend hundreds of billions of VND to build an anti-landslide embankment.
Faced with the above situation, Mr. Nguyen Doan Anh - Member of the Party Central Committee, Secretary of the Thanh Hoa Provincial Party Committee - has issued strong and drastic instructions to combat illegal mineral exploitation in general and illegal sand exploitation in particular.
Implementing the above instructions, in recent times, Thanh Hoa Provincial Police have fought fiercely against sand bandits.
In April 2025, Thanh Hoa Provincial Police prosecuted 12 defendants in a large-scale illegal sand mining case on the Chu River. Notably, Mr. Nguyen Viet Thong - Director of Minh Thong Mineral Exploitation Company Limited was accused of leading this ring. Under the guise of a legitimate business, Mr. Thong illegally exploited more than 12,000m3 of sand from mid-December 2024 until his arrest.
Previously, on March 25, nearly 300 officers and soldiers from units of the Ministry of Public Security simultaneously inspected and searched sand mines, gathering areas and headquarters related to illegal sand mining activities on the Chu River. As a result, 30 subjects were brought to Hanoi for investigation, and hundreds of thousands of cubic meters of sand were temporarily detained.
In the Ma River area, especially the section passing through Vinh Hoa commune (Vinh Loc district), the situation of illegal sand mining is complicated, despite the installation of surveillance cameras and 24/7 checkpoints. This activity has caused serious landslides, threatening the anti-landslide embankment worth more than 82 billion VND under construction. The People's Committee of Thanh Hoa province has requested to temporarily suspend exploitation at sand mines No. 18 and 54 to re-evaluate the level of impact.
Since the beginning of March 2025, Thanh Hoa Provincial Police have handled 4 cases with 28 subjects related to illegal mineral exploitation; seized 6 sand dredgers, 5 excavators and many other exhibits.
