This time, we do not go to find unique, thrilling stories or take the tears of readers, but rather focus on the swine mountains - where the human figure becomes small, to expose the stone theft activities that are destroying Hon Cha mountain day and night, a place that the locals warn: "No one dares to dig up if not a person in the profession".
When faced with the choice between safety and the truth that needed to be exposed, we chose to go.
"Wild animals" scratch the green forest
Through the buzzing chatters of people at the foot of the mountain about the loud explosions every night, the light flickering out like a ghost in the forest, I began to learn. To track down and collect clues for this invasion, we spent nearly 10 days "in the area" in the neighboring area of Hon Cha.
Working independently, without secret cameras, without support from local authorities, in the overgrown forest is not simple for me. To look like local people or forest workers, to avoid being suspicious, we are forced to "sune" for many days, but not on the beaches, but in the middle of the forest.
From authentic sources of the people, we decided to climb the mountain. Following the eroded soil left by the truck's wheels, along with the 3-phase power line pulling down the cliff, I went deeper and deeper into the forest. Each step was heavy, the wet person sweating because he was tired, when he had many steep slopes, he was exhausted. Along the way, we sometimes heard the sound of opportunity from the mountainside, like the gasping of a wild animal carving up every "flesh" of the green forest.
After nearly an hour of forestry, all our doubts gradually became clear when we witnessed the desolate, hazy scenery of Hon Cha Mountain - a towering mountain in the heart of Quy Nhon City, which has been plowed up by stone bandits for exploitation for many years.
A real construction site with 4-5 stone cutting machines and continuously operating oil explosives. Some people wear dark shirts, with musical machines in their hands, moving around large blocks of stone to "shaped" rectangular stones regularly, catching the eye. The sound of the cutting machine clutching my ears, the white stone dust that was everywhere stuck to my body.
Squeezing behind a large rock, we tried to stay calm, adjust our breathing to record the entire process of carving rocks and digging through the forest carefully, when our heart beat as if it wanted to jump out of our chest. Because if it is exposed, we can be be beaten, held back, or even worse.
The road back is longer than we thought. But strangely, it did not make us lose steam like when we left. Along the way back, we always have a series of questions in our heads: Who is behind the protection of the bandit? Who allows a 3-phase electricity pull into the deep forest? And why has this illegal activity existed for many years without being handled?
The footsteps of a journalist
Returning to the small room, the phone had run out of batteries, his legs were full of scratches, his shirt was covered with sweat and dust and rocks. But the evidence of living in the machine is still there - the most precious thing in our trip.
It took us 5 days to complete a series of investigations, screen each photo, compare, and verify each collected information. The article was published on the Laodong.vn page of Lao Dong Newspaper, with the title: "Rock bandits day and night khucking at Hon Cha mountain despite the ban".
Although the article has not caused a big stir as expected, it has a strong investigative and unique "taste" of Lao Dong.
The following day, Chairman of Binh Dinh Provincial People's Committee Pham Anh Tuan directed functional agencies to investigate, prosecute, and strictly handle stone thieves. "Clarifying who is behind the protection for this illegal activity" - Mr. Tuan emphasized.
From the timely reflection of Lao Dong Newspaper, on May 10, Tran Quang Dieu Ward Police ambushed and caught a group of subjects illegally mining stone on Hon Cha Mountain, seizing more than 50m3 of stone and many specialized equipment. The case is being further investigated to clarify whether or not there is any assistance from businesses and the unusual origin of the 3-phase power system towing into the mountain.
We know that this is just the beginning. Illegal miners can take a break and hide, waiting for the right opportunity to take action. But without continuous supervision and control, Hon Cha mountain will still "fall" under the sea of stone bandits.
After the series of articles were published for a few days, a colleague asked: "Is it worth taking such a risk?"
We did not know how to answer, nor did we know whether the article we wrote would make the mountain stop falling tears, or if the rocks were just chopped off or not. But we know for sure that we have not turned our backs. That day, although my legs were tired, I still walked with the same reason I chose to become a journalist. We only know that if he had not gone that day, someone might not know how much Hon Cha was " bleeding". If we don't write, hundreds of those cubic meters of rock will continue to disappear from the forest. And if I was overwhelmed by fear, perhaps the "dark night" would forever lie in the deep forest.
In many years of working as journalists, we have stepped into the center of the storm, wade through flooded areas, and carried rain in the forest at midnight... But the time we broke into Hon Cha, it made us feel most clearly the line between "dark night" and "light", between truth and silence.
We are not heroes. We are just a small journalist among thousands of large journalists. But we believe that, with this profession, as long as we dare to go, dare to write, the truth still has a chance to be exposed.
That is the reason we chose to enter the forest... alone.
