Ea Hu District People's Committee Chairman Nguyen Van Khoi told Dantri/Dtinews on May 29 that they were investigating cases in which durian trees had been destroyed before the harvesting season.
"Many farmers have reported that their unripe durians had been chopped off," Khoi said. "We've had to increase security teams and intensify patrols to protect the gardens."
The officials also said they had installed 64 security cameras along local roads to find the culprits.
Reports from the committee said that over 1,600 durian fruits in Luong Van Duc's garden were chopped off on May 21 while his family was away.
"The fruits from 54 durian trees in his garden were due to be harvested in August, but they were cut off," the report said. "The losses are estimated at several hundreds of millions of VND.
"We'll try to find those responsible and strictly punish them," he stressed.
The head of the Krong Pak District Police Department, Kieu Manh Hung, also said they were investigating a case in which many durian trees at a local garden were poisoned.
A durian tree is dying after being poisoned with herbicide at Pham Thi Loi's garden.
"The durian trees at Pham Thi Loi's garden lost their fruit while their branches and leaves are dying," Hung said. "Initial checks found they had been poisoned with herbicide. Almost 30 trees are dying, causing an estimated loss of VND300 million (USD12,000)."
While the recent durian destruction was first reported in the Central Highlands province, there have been several cases involving the destruction of coffee, black pepper and passion fruit trees.
At least seven such cases have been reported at local gardens since the beginning of 2023, causing total losses of over VND3 billion (USD120,000).