VietNamNet Bridge – A Chinese man who used chemicals to catch earthworms was fined VND16 million (nearly $800) and expelled by the authorities of Quang Tri province.
Photo: Gan DeQiang (white T-shirt) was expelled from the border area.
Major Phan Van Kiem, chief investigator of the border post at the international border gate of Lao Bao, in Huong Hoa district, Quang Tri province, told reporters that last week a Chinese citizen named Gan DeQiang, 40, was expelled and fined VND15 million for practicing activities in Vietnam without permission of the local authorities.
The man was also fined VND1 million for instructing locals to use chemicals to catch earthworms and purchase earthworms without permission.
Gan DeQiang’s Vietnamese partner, Le Van Cuong, 25, a resident of Luc Nam District, Bac Giang Province was fined VND1 million for not guiding a foreigner to fulfil temporary residence formalities under the law.
Tran Van Tan, head of the Department of Plant Protection of Quang Tri Province, said the Chinese citizen provided local people with an unknown chemical not registered in Vietnam to catch earthworms.
"The catch and purchasing of earthworms is also harmful to local agriculture because this species is a friend of farmers, helping to make the soil soft," Tan said.
On September 16, Gan DeQiang and Le Van Cuong went to some villages near the border town of Lao Bao to tell locals to pour strange chemicals in the ground to catch earthworms. The two men were arrested by soldiers at the Lao Bao border gate post.
Le Ha