According to the Ninh Gia Commune Police in Duc Trong District, Lam Dong Province, authorities are currently detaining a large excavator at the scene—a machine allegedly used to destroy private property.
On the afternoon of Saturday, March 17, after returning from a wedding, Mr. Vo Khac Nga of Ninh Hoa Hamlet, Ninh Gia Commune, unexpectedly discovered a large excavator uprooting the coffee plants on his family’s farm.
At the site, police documented that more than 100 fruit-bearing coffee trees had already been ripped out. The excavator operator, Dang Kim Thanh, stated he was simply carrying out instructions from the excavator’s owner and knew nothing more.
Mr. Vo Khac Nga estimated the damage at about 80 million VND. He explained that this plot of coffee land had previously been reclaimed by the Lam Dong Provincial People’s Committee under Decision No. 2245/QD-UBND dated August 30, 2002, to be used for the Dai Ninh hydropower reservoir.
However, when the hydropower reservoir was eventually filled, this particular area was not used. Mr. Nga and other families who had not permanently lost their land petitioned the Lam Dong provincial and Duc Trong district authorities to return the earlier compensation money and give the land back so they could continue farming.
Their request was deemed legitimate and accepted by the Lam Dong Provincial People’s Committee through several official documents, including Document No. 804/UBND-TD, which instructed: “The Department of Natural Resources and Environment must urgently complete the necessary procedures for the Duc Trong District People’s Committee to issue land use rights certificates to the households for the area of land previously reclaimed for the Dai Ninh hydropower project but ultimately not used.”
Yet to this day, Mr. Vo Khac Nga and several other families have not had their land returned by the Duc Trong District People’s Committee, despite the provincial directive.
While the matter remained unresolved, on March 17 more than 100 mature coffee trees on Mr. Nga’s farm were violently uprooted by the excavator, sparking outrage among local residents.
The police investigation into the incident is ongoing.