On July 14, the Ben Hai River Basin Protection Forest Management Board said that in the past time, the unit has coordinated with the government and the commune police force to deploy many measures to combat and prevent illegal gold mining in the forestry of the forest land assigned for management.
However, the subjects continued to return to the forest to illegally mine gold.
Most recently, on July 7, the force of the Ben Hai River Basin Protection Forest Management Board inspected the forest at Lot 4, Clause 4 and Lot 10, Clause 2, Sub-area 576; Lot 33, Clause 5, Sub-area 582, Ben Quan Commune (old Vinh O Commune).
Through inspection, 3 locations were discovered where the subjects brought machinery and equipment into the forest to exploit gold.
At the scene, the authorities recorded 2 tents of tarpaulins and some machinery and equipment for gold mining. When discovering that there were forest protection forces, the illegal gold miners left the camp and fled into the forest.
The location where the subjects were discovered illegally building and mining gold was in the middle of the forest, with difficult roads and next to the gold tunnel that had existed before.
The subjects just hide in the forest, and when the authorities leave, they continue to exploit, making management and protection very difficult.
The method of operation of the subjects is to take advantage of the dark night, follow trails to avoid the force blocking and protecting the forest, bringing tools, equipment and equipment into the forest to illegally exploit gold.
Meanwhile, due to the limited functions and powers of the forest protection force under the Ben Hai River Basin Protection Forest Management Board, the fight, prevention and repelling of the subjects encountered many difficulties.
Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Hung - Director of the Ben Hai River Basin Protection Forest Management Board said that in order to effectively fight and prevent illegal entries into the gold mining forest, the Ben Hai River Basin Protection Forest Management Board requested the authorities to quickly intervene to inspect and destroy the illegal gold mines.
At the same time, it is recommended that the People's Committee of Ben Hai commune direct relevant forces to coordinate with the unit to take measures to handle illegal gold bandits operating in the protective forest area in accordance with the provisions of law.
"We are preparing to conduct a review of all forest areas with existing gold mines, possibly other areas also have illegal camping and gold mining" - Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Hung said.
Previously, since the beginning of April 2025, a group of reporters from Lao Dong Newspaper have approached the Khe De protective forest area (sub-zone 583) and recorded the scene of gold bandits setting up many camps, digging mountains, and blowing up illegal gold mining machines.
After that, the People's Committee of Quang Tri province (old) directed the authorities to investigate and clarify the responsibility of the collective and individuals for the rampant gold bandits in Vinh O protective forest (now Ben Quan commune).
At the same time, develop a plan to demolish and destroy all illegal gold mines in the protective forest area. 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.
