Tran Duc Tien, a former forestry contractor, is angry authorities have taken no action to stop illegal logging and smuggling in Binh Phuoc Province
Former contractor Tran Duc Tien, 59, has recorded hundreds of hours of footage of illegal loggers at work in Suoi Nhung Forest Plantation in Dong Phu District.
The videos show sawing machines, falling trees and people loading logs onto trucks as they laugh and talk.
Although illegal logging has been occurring for several years, Tien said the destruction escalated early last year.
Every day, hundreds of valuable trees are cut down by illegal loggers and transported to Dong Xoai, the provincial town, for sale.
Using the digital video cameras he bought to expose the logging, Tien has even videotaped interviews with hamlet leaders, asking for their comments on his recordings of two uniformed forest rangers ordering five young men to cut down trees and load the logs on a truck.
The interviews were recorded in parts of the forest destroyed by illegal logging.
Tien sent copies of the most startling parts of his videos to many provincial agencies but the deforestation has not been stopped.
“They said I film at one place and talk about another place,” Tien said.
Destruction
After seeing some video clips, Thanh Nien reporters asked Tien to show them the destruction of the forests.
More than 100 meters from warning signs, in a primeval forest of about three hectares, hundreds of trees the size of an adult’s thigh had been felled and were lying on the ground, leaves still green.
Further off, newly-cut wood being burnt popped like firecrackers.
Four or five people had started a fire.
Tien said they had been hired to burn all traces of the illegal logging.
Near the fire, there were hundreds of felled trees, two trucks, a crane and more than 10 people working hurriedly.
“The wood from the forest is brought here and loaded on the trucks, with the big wood hidden under the small wood, to be transported to Dong Xoai,” Tien said.
Hundreds of hectares of forests had been destroyed.
Thanh Nien witnessed the stumps of many trees, about two meters in diameter, with their branches scattered on the ground.
It would take more than a day to count the stumps.
While some of the forest still smoldered from the recent fire, the sounds of sawing machines and trucks pulling logs echoed through the jungle.
One of the guides said the sound of wood being chopped and trees falling at night sounded like artillery fire.
Smuggling
While vast swathes of forests in Dong Phu have been destroyed by illegal logging, similar wood smuggling is also becoming common from Dak Nong, a province that borders Binh Phuoc, to Dak Nhau Commune of Bu Dang District.
The illegally-logged wood is transported from the Dak Nong forests through the Ba Den, Cay Dau, Ba Co and Ba Loan wharfs, according to wood traders.
Every day, wood traders hire people to ride buffalo-pulled carts from the center of Dak Nhau to the wharfs to buy wood.
The lumber is hidden in the villagers’ rubber and cashew gardens and at midnight, wood dealers come to collect the timber to sell in other provinces.
At present, traders have to hunt for precious woods in Dak Nong because the forests of Bu Dang have been logged out, said a farmer who cultivates cassava at Ba Den.
The illegal logging in Dong Phu and the smuggling of precious wood in Bu Dang have been going on without the intervention of authorities.
It remains to be seen how long it will take for this criminal activity to be controlled.
The Suoi Nhung Forest Economy Management Board has not commented on Tien’s allegations.
Former contractor Tran Duc Tien, 59, has recorded hundreds of hours of footage of illegal loggers at work in Suoi Nhung Forest Plantation in Dong Phu District.
The videos show sawing machines, falling trees and people loading logs onto trucks as they laugh and talk.
Although illegal logging has been occurring for several years, Tien said the destruction escalated early last year.
Every day, hundreds of valuable trees are cut down by illegal loggers and transported to Dong Xoai, the provincial town, for sale.
Using the digital video cameras he bought to expose the logging, Tien has even videotaped interviews with hamlet leaders, asking for their comments on his recordings of two uniformed forest rangers ordering five young men to cut down trees and load the logs on a truck.
The interviews were recorded in parts of the forest destroyed by illegal logging.
Tien sent copies of the most startling parts of his videos to many provincial agencies but the deforestation has not been stopped.
“They said I film at one place and talk about another place,” Tien said.
Destruction
After seeing some video clips, Thanh Nien reporters asked Tien to show them the destruction of the forests.
More than 100 meters from warning signs, in a primeval forest of about three hectares, hundreds of trees the size of an adult’s thigh had been felled and were lying on the ground, leaves still green.
Further off, newly-cut wood being burnt popped like firecrackers.
Four or five people had started a fire.
Tien said they had been hired to burn all traces of the illegal logging.
Near the fire, there were hundreds of felled trees, two trucks, a crane and more than 10 people working hurriedly.
“The wood from the forest is brought here and loaded on the trucks, with the big wood hidden under the small wood, to be transported to Dong Xoai,” Tien said.
Hundreds of hectares of forests had been destroyed.
Thanh Nien witnessed the stumps of many trees, about two meters in diameter, with their branches scattered on the ground.
It would take more than a day to count the stumps.
While some of the forest still smoldered from the recent fire, the sounds of sawing machines and trucks pulling logs echoed through the jungle.
One of the guides said the sound of wood being chopped and trees falling at night sounded like artillery fire.
Smuggling
While vast swathes of forests in Dong Phu have been destroyed by illegal logging, similar wood smuggling is also becoming common from Dak Nong, a province that borders Binh Phuoc, to Dak Nhau Commune of Bu Dang District.
The illegally-logged wood is transported from the Dak Nong forests through the Ba Den, Cay Dau, Ba Co and Ba Loan wharfs, according to wood traders.
Every day, wood traders hire people to ride buffalo-pulled carts from the center of Dak Nhau to the wharfs to buy wood.
The lumber is hidden in the villagers’ rubber and cashew gardens and at midnight, wood dealers come to collect the timber to sell in other provinces.
At present, traders have to hunt for precious woods in Dak Nong because the forests of Bu Dang have been logged out, said a farmer who cultivates cassava at Ba Den.
The illegal logging in Dong Phu and the smuggling of precious wood in Bu Dang have been going on without the intervention of authorities.
It remains to be seen how long it will take for this criminal activity to be controlled.
The Suoi Nhung Forest Economy Management Board has not commented on Tien’s allegations.
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