TAY NINH: The southern Tay Ninh Province People’s Committee yesterday fined two local men VND45 million (US$2,000) each for smuggling more than 1.3 tonnes of rosewood.
A 26-year-old driver named Tran Duy Phong and a 43-year-old truck owner Vo Van Thang from Tan Chau District were found to be carrying 270 pieces of rosewood from Cambodia to the district in a truck on Sunday. They told the police they were to deliver the timber to a local man named Nguyen Xuan Giao, who, however, denied he was going to receive the timber and, hence, was not be fined.
The timber, worth VND300 million ($13,300), and the truck, worth VND180 million ($8,000), would be added to local public property.
Drivers are usually paid about VND3 million ($133) per trip to transport smuggled timber from Cambodia to HCM City.
