Erosion causes dozens of homes to collapse

The strong tides and coastal erosion that hit the residential district of Duc Long Ward, in southern Binh Thuan Province's Phan Thiet City, for over a month destroyed 15 houses and threatened to collapse more than 50.

According to deputy chairman of the city's People's Committee Dang Dinh Hieu, due to the shortage of land, about 50 households have not been relocated from the area.

Local residents had to put sandbags around their houses to prevent erosion, none daring to sleep at their houses overnight.

Three Malaysians seized for using fake ATM cards

Police in HCMC last Friday arrested three Malaysians involved in a ring that created and used fake ATM cards to steal money from many individuals and businesses from ATMs of various banks.

Those arrested are Loi Haw Shyan, 22, and Yep Poh Boon and Looi Haw Yang – whose ages have not been determined.

The arrests were made following the testimonies given by 39-year-old Co Kim Thach, a Vietnamese man, who was caught withdrawing money from an ATM station of Asia Commercial Bank (ACB) in District 11 using a fake ATM card earlier the same day.

Many banks, including ACB, had earlier reported to the police that a number of their customers complained that the balances of their accounts had been reduced, even though they had not withdrawn any money.

Upon searching Thach’s body, officers found 23 fake ATM cards, 3 other cards issued by foreign banks, VND48 million (US$2,300), and 28 ATM withdrawal slips from many banks, including Sacombank, Techcombank, ACB, and HSBC.

The police also found an electric baton, a bag of synthetic drugs, and a tool for drug use hidden in the boot of his motorbike. Thach’s mobile phone was also confiscated.

Thach, a resident of District 5, told the police that last month he met a foreigner who called himself Cheng, and they became friends. Cheng later gave Thach several fake ATM cards, and asked him to use them to withdraw money from ATMs.

Cheng promised to pay Thach 0.1% of the total amount withdrawn.

Thach confessed that he had used the fake cards to steal about VND56 million from ATMs of various banks since mid-December.

Based on evidence gathered from Thach’s confession, police raided a hotel room in District 11 and arrested Cheng, who used a passport in the name of Luis Khoo Boo, although officers later found that it was false, and that Cheng’s real name is Loi Haw Shyan.

The police also seized two other men who were present in the room, Boon and Yang.

On searching the room, the police seized more than 40 fake credit and ATM cards, several laptops, iPads, printers and ATM card readers, many money transfer slips, and a number of tools used to make fake cards.

The detainees confessed that they left Malaysia for Vietnam in late November 2011, and brought with them many fake ATM and credit cards provided by their ringleader in Malaysia, who told them, “When you arrive in Vietnam, you will be picked up by people who will give you further instruction.”

The three men were later provided accommodation and a number of pieces of equipment used to create fake cards using information and instructions from their ring in Malaysia.

They later hired a few local people, like Thach, to withdraw money from ATMs of different banks at a negotiable commission rate.

The police are expanding their investigation to track down other possible members of the ring in Vietnam.

In May 2011, another Malaysian man, Koay Keng Chen, 22, was arrested for using a fake ATM card to buy expensive cell phones in Hanoi. In his hotel room, the police found 14 other fake cards which he said had been brought from Malaysia.

Search called off for five lost in gold mine

The search for five deceased people in a gold mine in Ban Chang Village, Thai Hoc Commune, Cao Bang Province, has been stopped, according to the provincial Search and Rescue Steering Committee on Sunday.

The narrow entrance and toxic gases in the mine prevented access to the dead bodies even though recuers were equipped with gas masks.

Trieu Van Dung, one of the five victims who died in search and rescue, will be honored as a martyr.

The accident happened early last week.

Hai Phong police shot dead during chase

Private First Class Do Dang Long. (Photo: Tuoi Tre)

The police seized a K59 gun, a shotgun, 6 bullets and several other tools hidden in the criminals' motorbike.

Private first class Long was admitted to the police in February 2011. The Hai Phong Police Department has decided to posthumously promote Long to sergeant to honor his death in action.

The Ministry of Public Security’s Policy Department has sent VND30 million (US$ 1,430) to support Long’s family.

Construction of water supply system for

The construction of a water supply system for Vung Ang Economic Zone in central Ha Tinh Province's Ky Anh District, Ky Thuong Commune, began last Saturday.

The project, worth VND3 trillion (US$143 million), will build a water plant with a capacity of 3.5 billion cu.m per day to supply water to local residents and companies in the economic zone.

The project is planned to be finished in June of 2014.

3-year-old boy escapes fall from balcony

3-year-old boy in Dong Da District fortunately escaped a fall from his apartment’s fenced balcony on Saturday when his head was stuck inside.

About 8:00 am, an employee at a bank facing the old apartment building located on Ton That Tung Street was frightened and screamed for help when she found the boy hanging from the fenced balcony, often called “tiger cage” in Hanoi.

Locals quickly climbed up the site by a wooden ladder and cut off the iron bars to rescue the boy.

Around 20 minutes later, the boy was brought down safely amid loud applause of on-lookers.

Neighbors said at the time of the incident, his parents went to work while his grandmother left him sleeping home and went to the market.

“When he woke up and saw nobody around, he reached for the flat’s 6m2 tiger cage when the accident occurred,” a local resident said.

Fenced “tiger cages” are a popular way of increasing living space at Hanoi’s old apartment buildings.

Many residents build tiger cages to transform balconies or public corridors into private spaces to cook and dry clothes among other purposes.

City continue to check phone numbers used for illegal street ads

The Ha Noi Department of Information and Communications has ordered districts in the city to check phone numbers used in illegal advertisements in an effort to clear streets of these ads.

The city's authorities also asked telecom providers to stop the operation of phone numbers used for illegal ads.

To date, nearly 2,000 phone numbers have been stopped. About 700 boards for free ads were put up in local districts.

Apricot farmers worried about early blossoming

Apricot tree farmers in HCMC are being worried as their flowers have started to bloom well before the Lunar New Year because of heavy rain and unfavorable weather.

As the Lunar New Year, or Tet, is still 3 weeks away, it is too early for apricot flowers to blossom now.

At Ut Cao apricot flower garden, the flowers on half of the trees have been blossoming.
“The weather this year is awful,” Ut Cao, the garden’s owner, said with a sigh.

He said rain was unexpectedly occurred at this time of the year, causing apricot flowers to blossom untimely.

“Customers wouldn’t like full-bloom flowers for Tet,” he said.

Vietnamese want their Tet flowers to remain for a while after Tet ends so before Tet, they prefer to buy trees and stalks with more buds rather than less.

Artisan Nam Dong, owner of an apricot flower garden in Thu Duc District, said unfavorable weather had caused 70% of his trees to blossom early.

Among his total 1,000 flowerpots, only 300 are in saleable conditions now.

But Nam Dong said he wouldn’t raise prices even though he has spent a lot on pesticide and workers’ wages.

“I’ll only plant 200 apricot trees next year,” he said.

Several horticulturists have gathered apricot trees in some locations along Kha Van Can Street in Thu Duc District for sale.

Tran Ngoc Vuong, owner of Hanh apricot tree garden in Lon Dong Ward, Thu Duc District, said he had been displayed 200 apricot trees at the above site.

According to Hanh, clients often buy apricot trees in the first year and then ask farmers to help take care of their plants every year after that.

Pham Anh Dung, chairman of the Ornamental Creatures Association in Cu Chi District, predicted that prices of apricot trees wouldn’t increase much because many people have switched to orchids.

“There are different types of orchids – different colors and species. Orchids are also easier to care for,” Dung said.

According to the Cu Chi Ornamental Creatures Association, the total area of orchid farming in the district has increased by 30 hectares and the prices of orchids will increase by 10% compared to last year.

VNN//VNS/Tuoi Tre