450-kg bomb found in Ha Tinh

A 450-kg bomb was found buried in a maize field in Son Tay village, Huong Son district, Ha Tinh province on July 7.

The Military Zone 4 engineer corps said that the bomb and its fuse was left in the field during the war and could have exploded if it was activated.

After the bomb was discovered, the engineer corps removed it from the field and safely deactivated it.

The forces have detected and safely dealt with many bombs and mortar shells in Ha Tinh province in the past month.

Agency suspends program to send workers to Portugal

Vietnam’s agency in charge of overseas labor has halted a program that would send Vietnamese workers to Portugal due to cost problems.

Following Tuoi Tre’s coverage about the service charge under the program, which has been pushed from US$1,800 to as much as $8,000-8,500 per worker, the Departtment of Overseas Labor Management said it has requested that the program’s developer, Thang Long Investment and Development JSC, suspend it pending investigation.

As earlier reported by Tuoi Tre, the department has licensed Thang Long to recruit 200 workers, including 100 females, to work in Portugal at a salary rate of about 485 Euro per month, and the company has registered a service charge rate of about VND38 million (US$1,822) that would be collected from qualified candidates.

The charge includes a service fee equal to one month’s salary, a visa fee of 80 Euros, an airfare of US$1,000, and a training fee of VND1,05 million.

However, the actual charge was later sharply increased in many different localities, causing problems for the program’s candidates. Labor brokers in a number of provinces including Nghe An, Ha Tinh and Quang Binh said they had been asked to apply such a high charge.

The director of an employment service center in Quang Binh Province said qualified workers will work in Portugal under contracts with a term of only one year. Therefore, if those contracts are not renewed when they end, workers will get no benefit if they have had to pay a charge of US$8,000-8,500 before leaving Vietnam.

“In order to protect candidates from being deceived, we have asked the company to halt the program and submit a report related to service charge problems to the department for consideration,” said Nguyen Ngoc Quynh, head of the department.

The department will also examine issues raised by the mass media, including Tuoi Tre, to prevent any negative aspects that have arisen from the program.

Slaughterhouses fail on hygiene standards

Over 200 animal slaughterhouses out of 217 slaughterhouses operating in southern Dong Nai Province failed to meet hygienic standards, a recent meeting of the Dong Nai Province's authorities on food safety revealed.

The provincial Department of Animal Heath has requested local People's Committees to withdraw the operating licences of 35 slaughterhouses that failed to meet food hygiene standards.

Other slaughterhouses will also face withdrawal of their operating licences if they fail to improve their food hygiene standards.
Violent wood poachers identified by police

Three wood poachers who allegedly attacked the officials from Phong Tho District in north-western Lai Chau Province last week were identified yesterday by local police.

The three suspects are all residents of Nam Loong Commune in Lai Chau Town, Lai Chau Province. One of them is undergoing treatment at the Lai Chau General Hospital after getting injured during the clash with local officials, while the two others are in hiding, according to police.

Last Thursday, a forest ranger from the Phong Tho forest management station had his arm broken during a clash with the criminals.

Man held for robbing French national

Police in central Nghe An Province have detained a local young man who snatched a handbag from a French female on a street.
25-year-old Nguyen Van Sy, of the province’s Hung Nguyen District, was arrested Saturday shortly after he committed the crime, said Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Van Dieu, deputy head of the Vinh City Police.

At 9 am on June 8, Sy, who was on a motorbike, got close to Caroline Albenque, who was riding a bicycle on Tran Tan Street in the province’s Vinh City, and suddenly snatched the handbag from her shoulder.

The foreign woman, who is a teacher at the French Language Training Center in the city, shouted loudly for help while Sy was gearing up his motorbike to escape.

Tran Van Ky and Nguyen Cong Hoi, two locals who were travelling by, ran after the robber and seized him after a 2-km chase.

Sy was handed to the police who found a mobile phone, VND440,000 in cash and some personal papers in the handbag.

The police later returned the handbag and all these items to the victim.

During questioning, Sy confessed to the police that he had carried out two other similar robberies in the city and Nam Dan District.

The police are continuing with their investigation.

Human trafficking ring busted

On July 6, police in Tay Ninh province and Ho Chi Minh City arrested three people for illegally sending three women to China to marry Chinese men.

In addition to arresting the three suspects, Vong Kam Sang, Lin Liang Hui and Pham Thi Nhung, at Tan Son Nhat International Airport, the police also seized VND13 million in cash, around ten passports and other relevant documents.

Expanding the investigation, local police also arrested 22 others, including 13 Chinese, in Chau Thanh, Hoa Thanh and Go Dau districts.

The traffickers declared they had sold more than 40 Vietnamese women to Chinese men who had paid VND80-100 million to marry them.

VNN/VOV/VNS/Tuoi Tre