The scene of the deforesation in Lâm Hà District. — VNA/VNS Photo Quốc Hùng

LÂM ĐỒNG — Pine trees in Lâm Hà District of the Central Highlands province of Lâm Đồng were discovered to be chopped down this week, Vietnam News Agency reported.

Ten large pine trees in sub-zone 263B of Nam Ban Town were felled. The area is located less than 150m from the station of the district’s protective forest management board.

Trần Minh Đăng, a forest ranger, told Vietnam News Agency the tree destroyers had watched for the forest rangers before they took action in the early morning.

They finished chopping down the trees in only 10 minutes and left the area when the guards reached the scene.

In Hamlet 4, Gia Lâm Commune, dozens of pine trees with a stem diametre of 20-40cm were axed.

Local authorities did not act promptly to prevent the deforestation.

The deforestation in Lâm Hà District was an attempt to encroach land as land prices in the area are soaring.

A representative of Lâm Hà District’s forest protection and management station said all of the cases were reported to authorities but none of the violators have been punished because they fled quickly.

Lâm Hà District is home to large pine forests and has been a hotspot of deforestation over the past years.

The deforestation was reported only a week after Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc ordered an investigation into a pine tree poisoning in the district.

The poisoned pine trees are no longer green but red. — VNA/VNS Photo Quốc Hùng, Đặng Tuấn

Media reported that thousands of almost 20-year-old pine trees covering 10ha in the district had been poisoned, turning the entire area red.

Since late April, the trees were axed or drilled and then filled with a white liquid which seems to be a herbicide. — VNS