the government allowed Vietnam Coal and Mineral Industries Group (Vinacomin) to resume exports of low-quality coal to China through the province’s Van Gia border.

Coal trading at local harbors and mining sites has grown as a consequence and so has coal theft and illegal mining, but these nefarious activities are not new.

According to guards at the harbors, these groups have been operating for dozens of years “but local authorities don’t know how to deal with them.”

They collect the coal that’s dropped as it’s transported from harbors to boats for export, as well as coal washed from mines into the rivers.

Along a local river near the Diem Vong – Lang Khanh harbor in Ha Long Town’s Ha Khanh Ward, barges and boats belonging to coal thieves wait to steal from legal miners’ boats.

Six people were killed and another injured during a shootout between two illegal mining groups at the harbor last month.

The gun battle occurred after the foreman of one gang, Phan Huy Nam, ordered his men to “take care of” another group, led by Nguyen Duc Tam, which had broken into their site.

The two gang leaders and the gunmen involved in the firefight are now on the run.

Ha Long Town police said armed fights over mining sites at the harbor started in June last year.

The illegal mining groups operate on an “honor among thieves” system, trying to keep authorities out of any conflicts that arise.

Police office manager Nguyen Trinh Dong said gangs would never report an attack to the police.

“We can count some cases but the reality is much more complicated,” Dong said.

Illegal coal mines are also dug in locals’ backyards. The foremen of the gangs pay up to VND20 million (US$1,150) for access to the land, said a former mining gang leader, who did not wish to be named.

These illegal operations work with the harbor gangs to make the exports appear legal.

The big profits that can be made from illegal coal trading means the practice is almost impossible to stop, said the former foreman.

Illegal coal miners pay each worker VND60,000 ($3.00) a day at most and can make a profit of between VND1.2 million and VND1.6 million ($69-92) a day from around eight tons of coal.

Some illegal operators own dozens of such mines.

Too easy

Illegal coal miners say it’s not difficult to find explosives in Quang Ninh to use in the mines. Eleven people were arrested in November last year with dynamites and detonators.

Vinacomin and Quang Ninh authorities have no estimate of how many coal harbors and mining sites there are in the province, said Vinacomin’s deputy chief guard Tran Van Thuong.

The Diem Vong – Lang Khanh harbor has 10 loading docks belonging to Lang Khanh Harbor Joint Stock Company and Vinacomin’s Hon Gai Coal Company, as well as other areas run by private companies.

Each dock has its own guards and regulations, said Bui Viet Cuong from Lang Khanh Company. “This helps outsiders come and go easily.”

Thuong said Vinacomin had around 3,800 guards stationed at the mining sites and hundreds of other armed guards at its joint stock companies.

However, the guards only carry plastic canes and gas bullet guns to deal with gangs that are armed with knives, guns and grenades.

Only five percent of the guards are trained in martial arts, Thuong said and they hesitate to act because they’re afraid of revenge attacks.

He said Vinacomin only became aware of the situation after last month’s fatal shootout.

Lang Khanh Company’s Cuong said during the shootout the guards did nothing, adding that some even hid in shipping containers.

Nhu Thi Hong Nhien, vice chairwoman of Quang Ninh Province People’s Committee, said Vinacomin was responsible for ensuring that coal mining regulations were complied with and that they should be stopping coal mining in local backyards and stamping out the illegal trade in coal.

Source: Tuoi Tre

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