Authorities in the central highlands province of Kon Tum has issued fines of VND500m (USD22,400) to a group of eight illegal gold miners.

The tunnel under the passion fruit garden 

The youngest miner is only 16 years old and the oldest is 77. Five miners were fined VND60m, with the remainder fined VND70m each. Their equipment was also seized and the miners were asked to restore the environment.

On January 22, the inspectorate of Kon Tum Department of Natural Resources and Environment and the provincial environment police caught the miners red-handed and discovered a tunnel under the passion fruit garden of Nguyen Van Ly in Ngoc Hoi District.

The tunnel is about 100 metres long and 1.1 metres wide. There were five people working in the tunnel when the police arrived. About 10 tonnes of gold ore was found at the scene.

According to Ly, two men proposed to mine gold in his passion fruit garden early this year, saying that he'll get his share when they can sell gold products but nothing has been made yet. Ly was also fined for illegal gold mining in 2013.

Dtinews