Unusual signs in the dark
At night, the sound of a machinery exploding in the middle of the Thach Han River became a familiar signal of the illegal sand suction group. All of this happened in the dark, without lights, leaving no trace outside the whirlpools and landslides.
At more than 9:25 p.m. on December 2, when the area near An Mo bridge (Trieu Phong commune, Quang Tri province) was sinking in the silence, a ship suddenly appeared. The ship appeared to be moving on the water surface and then accelerated, approaching the riverbank of Ngu Hiep village (Trieu Phong commune). At 9:35 p.m., the suction tap was released, the engine's sound gradually increased, and the sand from the riverbed was sucked into the hold. At around 10:05, the boat sank due to the sand and small explosive devices, and the three subjects controlling the boat turned around and left. More than 40 minutes later, the ship returned to the same location, repeating the process: Swing, releasing the hop, starting the sand suction machine...
Previously, it was noted that on the night of December 1, this group also sucked sand from 9:49 p.m. to the morning. Similarly, on the night of November 28, the three subjects also used this ship to suck sand close to the riverbank all night.
Following the ship for many nights, the reporter discovered a rule: Every 20 minutes of sucking sand from the river, 40 minutes of pumping it onto the staging area. During the operation, this group only turned on the flashlights for a few seconds to check the location.
The gathering point for illegal sand mining is located only about 700m from the mining site. After sucking the sand, the ship returned towards An Mo bridge, landing on the embankment in Quarter 2, Trieu Phong commune. One person left the boat to shore, the other two connected the pipes, pumped sand until the hold was empty, the boat floated.
The path of smuggled sand and consumption chains
The illegal sand gathering site is located right in a residential area, one side adjacent to Thach Han River, the other side adjacent to Huyen Tran Cong Chua Street (Trieu Phong Commune). This bank has a closed net system, the gate is always closed. At night, they suck the sand to the beach, and early in the morning open the door for trucks to enter and transport. On the morning of December 2, five trucks with license plates 74C - 131.xx, 75C - 123.xx, 74A - 325.xx, 75C - 117.xx... continuously entered the sand plow. Excavators work continuously, the sand is full and the vehicle leaves.
Reporter took a bus 75C - 117.xx at 8:18 a.m. on December 2. The vehicle was carrying about 12-15m3 of sand, running through many densely populated residential areas in Trieu Phong commune, Quang Tri ward, Trieu Co commune... even though the road had markets and schools, the vehicle still ran fast. At 8:57, the vehicle entered Hue City and continued to circulate on National Highway 49B. When reaching Km20, the vehicle was asked to stop by the Traffic Police. The driver smiled, presented his documents, and was allowed to continue driving less than a minute later. At 9:54 a.m., the truck entered the Hiep construction material yard in An Luu, My Thuong ward (Hue city) and dumped sand.
Vehicle 75C - 123.xx also had a similar journey, leaving the yard at 8:30 and dumping sand in My Thuong ward more than two hours later.
On the night of December 2, when the location of illegal sand plowing and the consumption line were well known, a report was sent to PC03 Department - Quang Tri Provincial Police. Upon receiving the report, a reconnaissance team of PC03 Department in coordination with Trieu Phong Commune Police was ambushed near An Mo Bridge. At 0:44 a.m. on December 3, while the ship was pumping sand onto the beach, the authorities raided and arrested an aluminum boat and two subjects residing in Duong Dai Thuan village (Trieu Binh commune, Quang Tri province) who were illegally mining sand using a motorized suction pipe. On the boat were 9.3m3 of sand without documents proving its origin. Nearby, the authorities recorded a gathering place of a household with 44.7m3. All sand on the boat and in the beach was temporarily detained to serve the investigation.
Returning to the riverbank of Ngu Hiep village, the reporter recorded many areas with serious landslides. The sand-packed soil is large, and can collapse into the river at any time. Trees are tilted, roots are exposed to the ground.
Ms. Mong Thoa (name changed), born in 1966, who has been growing crops for more than 10 years on the Thach Han River, said: "Since the beginning of the year, the river bank has been eroding strongly. One of the causes of landslides is due to suction close to the shore, creating frog jaw, cracked soil and collapsing. With this situation, people lose their land".
The People's Committee of Trieu Phong commune said that it had assigned the commune police to inspect and clarify. The Economic Department of Trieu Phong commune confirmed that the gathering site belongs to business household Le Van Ty, registered in April 2025 with the industry of gathering hotel sand to cast embankments. The license does not allow the purchase and sale of sand. In August 2025, the authorities asked the Ty household to sign a commitment not to illegally gather minerals and not to contain sand of unknown origin. However, at night, the ship still brought sand to the shore.
According to Lieutenant Colonel Do Duong Ha - Head of Trieu Phong Commune Police, downstream there are many households that make a living by river work, including those who exploit small sand, and to thoroughly handle it, they have to take into account the livelihood of these households.
PC03 Department said that it is investigating the incident reported by Lao Dong Newspaper and strengthening coordination in handling it. Most recently, at 10:30 p.m. on December 4, the authorities caught another illegal sand suction ship red-handed and determined that this group had exploited about 5m3 of sand.
