Three men are arrested for poisoning pine trees in Lam Dong Province
Police in Lam Dong said on June 2 that they had detained Bach Dinh Ke, 37, who was believed to be the mastermind of the mass forest destruction in the area while hiding in Laos.
Ke, 37, and Ngo Van Diem, 35 fled from their hometown in Lam Ha District since May when local police launched an investigation into the biggest forest destruction case recorded so far in the area.
Diem had been arrested on May 29 while hiding in Binh Duong Province. He together with two other men Nguyen Van Loi, 23, and Duong Van Hong, 53 had been prosecuted for their work.
According to the group, Ke supplied tools including electric drills, batteries, and herbicide to Diem to poison the pine forest to steal the land for farming. Diem hired Hong and Loi to poison the pine forest with him. Hong and Loi were paid VND500,000 (USD22) a day or VND30 million (USD1,304) a hectare for the poisoning work. The killers drilled the holes and pumped herbicide into the trees which then gradually died.
More than 10 hectares of pine forest are destroyed for farming
The group have destroyed over 3,400 pine tress of nearly 20 years on a total forest area of nearly 10 hectares.