Publicly advertised illegal land
In mid-February 2025, from National Highway 1A through Cap Bac village, Vinh Chap commune (Vinh Linh district, Quang Tri province), we followed a crushed stone road about 2km long, then turned onto a dirt road through the cajuput forest. The deeper you go inside, the clearer the roaring sound of the engine becomes. At the end of the rutted road with wheels, a construction site of about 2 hectares appears with excavators operating tirelessly, trucks continuously coming in and out.
During his time in the cajuput forest area, on February 18, illegal land exploitation activities took place vigorously. From 7:30 a.m., three trucks lined up along the trail through the cajuput forests to enter the parking lot, the large-capacity machine scooped up the duck and poured it onto the truck, the box was full, and the car immediately left the parking lot. From 8am to 9am, five more cars arrived, then the goods were packed with dirt and left.
Approaching the excavator, we witnessed that the exploitation of the soil was no different from a construction site. At 9:25, a truck with license plate 73H-0176 entered the yard. At 9:31 a.m., the car left, the truck's trunk was filled with dirt and covered with tarpaulins to cover it. At 9:36, a truck with license plate 74C-084.36 entered the parking lot. Less than 10 minutes later, the truck left when the truck's body was full of dirt. At 9:40 a.m., car 74C-114.91 moved in, and at 9:44 a.m., the soil was full of the truck's trunk and it left.
In particular, at 9:50 a.m., 3 cars entered the illegal land exploitation site at the same time, leaving at 10:18 a.m. - including cars with license plates 74H-005.15, 73H-0176... At 10:30, 2 trucks with large boxes entered the site, leaving at 10:52 a.m. when each vehicle was carrying high soil, such as car with license plate 74C-133.43.
Soil mining and excavation onto trucks took place continuously, and stopped at 11:24.
In just one morning, more than 20 trucks moved into the yard and then left, with trucks with license plate 73H-0176 carrying up to 4 trips, trucks 74C-084.36 carrying 2 trips...
On the afternoon of February 18, from 1:30 p.m., the soil exploitation continued until the evening. The vehicles with license plates 74C-140.87, 74C-010.40, 73H-0176... took turns entering the yard with an empty box, and when leaving, they were filled with illegal soil.
Wherever the exploitation is, the traces will be erased
It is known that the above plot of land belongs to a man named D (residing in Chap Bac village, Vinh Chap commune) with an area of about 2 hectares. Previously, the land was used to grow acacia trees, then Mr. T (residing in Chap Bac village) and some people brought excavators to the land, exploiting the soil layer to a depth of 1m to 2m, in some places 3m.
The exploitation of the soil took place from day to day, the truck needed to buy the soil, but the excavator was back in operation. To erase traces of illegal land exploitation, the subjects will scoop up the soil along a straight line, then level the ground, return the area to the landowner and plant acacia trees. However, the digging areas are still easily recognizable, because the soil is lower than the surrounding areas. In particular, some areas where young acacia trees are still being grown have been demolished to get land.
From February 15 to February 24, there will be times when the soil exploitation activities will ease, and there will be times when they will be bustling again.
On the morning of February 24, after a reporter from Lao Dong Newspaper came to work with the leaders of Vinh Chap Commune People's Committee, the excavator stopped digging the soil, instead moving to level the scene and quickly left the old location.
It is known that not only in Mr. D's land plot, but also in Chap Bac village, there are many areas of planted forests that have been dug up and taken away, the soil layer that people call "golden sand land", which is very popular for filling houses and constructions.
