Hoan Kiem Turtle to take its status to the grave

Experts still divided on ways to treat turtle too old and special for conservation efforts

The badly injured giant soft-shell turtle living in Hanoi’s Hoan Kiem Lake, pictured here on February 8, is said to be one of four remaining Rafetus swinhoei specimens in the world. The photograph has initiated a new round of talks on ways to treat its injuries and improve its habitat.

As local and international experts scratch their heads on ways to save an extremely rare and injured giant soft-shell turtle in Hanoi’s Hoan Kiem Lake, it looks set to take its unique cultural and legendary status to its grave sometime over the next decade.

One agreement that has been reached among the scientists is that the environment in the 12- hectare lake needs improving.

“I don’t think there is any one single solution. I think improving the habitat or improving the quality of the environment in the lake is one of the first things that should be done,” said Timothy McCormack, a coordinator with the Cleveland Metropark Zoo’s Asian Turtle Program.

“During the dry season, I think the water level is very low. The pollution makes it seem a lot worse. So you can add more water into the lake to increase the water level and reduce the pollution,” he told Thanh Nien Weekly on the phone.

It is generally accepted that there are only four confirmed members of the species (Rafetus swinhoei) left in the world – two living wild in Vietnamese lakes – Hoan Kiem and Dong Mo – and a captive pair in China that have, so far, failed to produce fertile eggs. One Vietnamese scientist in the forefront of efforts to save the Hoan Kiem turtle, Ha Dinh Duc, has claimed it is the only member of a new species.

The rare soft-shell turtle in Hoan Kiem Lake has played a hugely important role in Vietnamese lore for more than 2,000 years. The Hoan Kiem Lake turtles are traditionally viewed as manifestations of the Golden Turtle God, or Kim Qui. Legend has it over the last two millennia that they have helped design fortifications, thwart enemy armies and produced a number of enchanted weapons.

Photos of the turtle over the past months showed multiple injuries on its neck and carapace, which pushed Hanoi authorities and scientists to rush for solutions to save the animal.

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At a workshop on the issue in Hanoi on Tuesday (February 15), scientists continued to differ over the healing methods – removing the turtle from the lake to treat its injuries or remaining content with improving pollution in the lake.

Phan Thi Van of the Research Institute for Aquaculture proposed that the turtle be removed to an enclosed body of water and its injuries treated before it is released back into the Hoan Kiem Lake. Kim Van Van of the Agriculture University agreed with Van, adding that the lake should be dredged and cleaned.

However, McCormack argued that this could harm the animal.

“For the Hoan Kiem turtle, [although] the lake is really polluted, it has been there for many years. It is almost used to that water. If you remove the animal and move it to somewhere else, to a small enclosure maybe with clean water, it may actually make the situation worse,” he told Thanh Nien Weekly.

Deity forever

Conservationists said that due to the advanced age and cultural significance of the Hoan Kiem turtle, it is not considered a candidate for breeding or conserving.

“Given its ‘God’ status, the idea of capturing it to check its sex was a non-starter,” said American Douglas Hendrie, technical advisor for the local conservation group Education for Nature-Vietnam. “So what we have here is a potentially sad tale. The Hoan Kiem turtle is old [and] it will die in that lake at some point, probably over the next decade,” said Hendrie.

“I fear that its cultural value far overshadows conservation interests and concerns, even to the point of allowing the turtle to die without replacement… and thus, the Hoan Kiem turtle does not factor into conservation at this time.”

Given this situation, conservationists have turned their attention to the Dong Mo Lake – a tiny body of water just west of Hanoi where a young, virile male Rafetus swinhoei is watched over by a team of conservationists and a one-armed fisherman who rents the eastern half of the lake. This healthy male may be the species’ last great hope, they say.

Duc, the Vietnamese scientist who has been monitoring the Hoan Kiem turtle for decades, said he would go ahead with his fight for the survival of the giant species.

Despite some remaining rifts with international experts on the issue, Duc has earned their admiration for his ardent conservation work.

“Duc is a positive voice for the [Hoan Kiem] turtle… and his life revolves around this turtle,” Hendrie said. “His heart is in the right place.”

Duc said his relentless conservation efforts have never burnt him out. The only thing worrying Duc was that he was getting old and no one seemed to be prepared to take over his job, he said.

“I have trained some people to work in the turtle conservation field. But they all ended up landing other jobs,” Duc said. “The modern life has made people more and more pragmatic.”

Will Duc’s idealism be pragmatic enough to save the turtle? Animal lovers in general and admirers of the Hoan Kiem turtle in particular are keeping their fingers crossed.

Reported by An Minh 

Tobacco smuggling meets high demand in southern Vietnam

Tobacco packets strapped to the bodies of couriers.

Smuggling of tobacco products into Vietnam in the southern region has not reduced despite crackdowns, according to the HCMC market management division.

 

Last year 68 tobacco smuggling and trading cases were busted in Ho Chi Minh City, confiscating 48,696 packets, 4,100 less than the previous year, the office said, adding the number of cases has also gone down.

 

However, tobacco smuggling was still "complicated" in the city’s districts adjacent to provinces like Tay Ninh and Long An, in terms of scales and methods compared to previous years, officials said.

 

An investigation by Thanh Nien reporters found that smugglers were using various methods to bring tobacco trafficked from Cambodia into HCMC and Mekong Delta provinces.

 

Located in Cambodia’s Ta Keo Province and adjacent to Chau Doc Town in the Mekong Delta province of An Giang, the Go Ta Mau Market has for long been a good choice for smugglers to transit their goods.

 

A local told Thanh Nien that almost every day a great amount of foreign tobacco ranging from low to hi-end products are brought from Phnom Penh and Kongpong Cham City into the market, from where it would be smuggled into Vietnam by road or river.

 

The tobacco is usually hidden under the high floors of shops built of wood at the market. Once in a while, a group of young people would come into the shops and go out with packages of tobacco on their back, heading for Chau Doc’s Vinh Nguon Commune.

 

One of the people hired to bring tobacco into Vietnam said: “Each of us carries over 500 packages (600 packets each) on average per day.”

 

With Tet (Lunar New Year festival) approaching, they are busier, carrying tobacco day and night to meet their hirers’ demands, he added.

 

Another one told Thanh Nien they are confident about carrying tobacco by day because some one has already “taken care” of the routes.

 

After being brought into Vietnam, a group of people would carry them by motorbike to other localities.

 

Each person carries at least 1,200 packets of tobacco and then drives at breakneck speed. On their way, they are informed about the presence of police on their cellphones, Thanh Nien found.

 

The porters also tie tobacco packets around their body and cover them under oversized clothes and take them by buses. Sometimes the bus assistants also join the business.

 

According to officials, local high taxes on tobacco is one of reasons for the product to be smuggled into the country. Since 2008 Vietnam has taxed tobacco at 65 percent for special consumption, and 10 percent for value added tax.

 

Reported by Thanh Quoc – Hoang Viet  

Underworld goes underground

Interpol red alert subject found safe haven in Vietnam for five years

  Bunty Pandey (right) was arrested in Vietnam last October. Police said Pandey had been living in Vietnam under a false identity — Vijay Subhash Sharma, 40, labor contractor—- while running his operations in India

Smuggling, kidnapping, extortion and murders galore – Indian gangster Bunty Pandey had plenty of such crimes to his credit, and was wanted by the Indian police for at least 38 cases – and counting.

Despite an Interpol red corner notice issued for Pandey in 2002, he was nowhere to be found. Since 2002, Pandey had traveled to Nepal, Singapore, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam.

The mystery was solved a few months ago.

He had been living in Ho Chi Minh City for five years with his family and children as a labor contractor and consultant, it was revealed last week during a review meeting held by the southern office of the Ministry of Public Security.

Among the 89 criminals nabbed in the southern region in 2010, the prize catch was 40-yearold Prakash Pandey aka Bunty Pandey. He stayed in Vietnam as Vijay Subash Sharma.

He had obtained an Indian passport from Mumbai in 1999 impersonating as Vijay Subhash Sharma. All his subsequent passports were also in this name making it difficult for Interpol and the Indian police to track him.

The gangster was arrested at a 20th floor condominium of Nhieu Loc Apartment in Ho HCMC’s District 3, where he was living with his wife and two children, police said.

The arrest was conducted on October 22 by a joint force of Interpol Vietnam and Agency No.1 that is in charge of handling foreign-related cases, following intimation from Interpol India saying that Pandey may be in Vietnam.

Thanh Nien Weekly learned that Pandey had not stopped dabbling in crime during his stay in Vietnam, although such activities appear to have been confined to India. He was involved in extortion and blackmailing even when he was here, and the police in India’s Mumbai City had cases on him as recently as in 2009.

In fact, his involvement in what looks like human trafficking came to light the day he was deported to India. A group of 16 Indian nationals were found by local police stranded in a public park in HCMC on November 4, all but one of them without passports or other valid travel document.

They said Pandey had brought them into the country in October 2010, some days before his arrest, and taken their passports and money, promising jobs and work permits in Vietnam. Since their documents could not be found and Pandey had been deported, the workers were also repatriated. Some of the passports may have been submitted for obtaining work permits to authorities in HCMC and may still be with them, Indian embassy officials told Thanh Nien Weekly.

Vietnamese police only said they found the Indian criminal by applying “professional methods.” The Times of India, meanwhile, said police tracked him down via a SIM card issued in Vietnam.

"He had been using a SIM card issued in Vietnam but would not make calls from this number. However, he must have forgotten that he had used the same card while speaking to one of his cronies last year. The number entered our records and we started monitoring it," the paper cited an anonymous police source as saying.

"His phone was being tapped. When the name of a local gangster cropped up, the police was certain that it was Pandey who was using the SIM card. ”

Reports from India say Pandey is being kept in an isolated cell of the Mumbai crime branch’s two-storey lock up.

Indian Ambassador Ranjit Rae told Thanh Nien Weekly that this case marked “a high point of the cooperation and trust between India and Vietnam in general and the police authorities in particular.” He commended the relevant agencies of the Vietnam’s Ministry of Public Security for their support in apprehending Bunty Pandey.

Asked about the trend of Indian mafia members choosing to set up camp in Southeast Asia, Rae said that “It was necessary to step-up cooperation between the law enforcement authorities of concerned countries.”

Pandey’s journey in crime began in his home state of Nainital in Uttarakhand. He came into his own in 1995, when he helped underworld Don Chota Rajan execute the killing of Thakiyuddin Wahid, managing director of East-West airlines, outside the latter’s office. Wahid had refused to pay extortion money.

His crime run continued for years. Mumbai crime branch chief Himanshu Roy said that Pandey severed ties with the Rajan gang in 2002.

The Indian police source told the Times of India: "He lived in a number of countries, including Nepal, Bangladesh, Thailand, Singapore and Cambodia. But mostly he spent his time in Vietnam where he had a work permit and was posing as a labor contractor and consultant."

Reported by Hari Chathrattil – Bao Thien 

Loan sharks scam HCMC students

Students unable to repay debts fear for their limbs

Binh left his home in a nearby province and came to Ho Chi Minh City with dreams of a degree.

Struggling with the high costs of living in the city, he failed to pay his university fees in October and ended up borrowing VND5 million (US$256) from a friend.

When the friend asked him to return the money, Binh reluctantly went to one of the many loan sharks that lend money to cash-strapped students in the city.

“I had no choice. Banks and legal loan services won’t give me loans because I have no assets [to mortgage],” he said.

At a money lender’s in an alley off Tran Hung Dao Street in District 1, just steps away from the dormitories of the HCMC University of Economics and the HCMC University of Natural Sciences, Binh was “approved” for a loan at an interest rate of 21 percent per month.

To legalize the loan, Binh was made to sign a document saying he received the money as a deposit for a laptop he would deliver later.

Before he left, the lender warned the student with dire consequences if he failed to pay his debts. “They threatened to contact my family and cut off my limbs,” he said. Thankfully, he was able to pay off his debts within ten days.

But another student, Tu, was not that lucky. He was threatened and seriously bullied all November after failing to pay interest on a loan of VND11 million ($564). Fearing for his limbs and life, Tu borrowed money from his sister to pay off the interest. But he is still mired in debt.

According to Tu, hundreds of students have borrowed money from the same lender, identified only as C.

The 47 universities in HCMC attract thousands of students every year from around the country, especially the southern provinces. Loan sharks lurk around the universities and thrive on ripping off broke students.

Students get mired in extortionate interest rates, often ending up struggling to pay off just the interest, without any hope of getting out of debt.

Abundant bloodsuckers

Following a complaint from a victim student, Thanh Nien conducted an investigation and found hundreds of students who have seen their hardships turn into horrors.

Disguised as a relative repaying a student’s debt, a Thanh Nien reporter found that the loan shark popularly known as C. belongs to a ring with at least three unlicensed lenders around universities in HCMC.

He was told that he could pay the interest at any of the other “branches” in the city – at Street No. 2 near University of Technology in District 10, at D5 Street near a branch of Foreign Trade University in Binh Thanh District, and in the Thu Duc university area in Thu Duc District.

The service on D5 Street appears to be a pawn shop with a board advertising “low-interest loans with easy procedures.” A man called H. directed the “customer” to a nearby service on D2 Street to discuss the loan. However, he refused to lend money when the reporter presented an invalid student card.

Another loan shark in H.’s racket said many other loan sharks in Thu Duc university area charged even higher interest rates, of VND40,000 per day on a VND1 million loan, which works out to be 120 percent per month.

H. also claimed that the ring has tight connections with government and police officials who protect the illegal services.

According to state regulations, interest rates should be no more than 150 percent of the benchmark interest rate set by the State Bank of Vietnam. At the moment, the benchmark rate is 9 percent per annum, and the maximum interest rates charged by money lenders should not exceed 13.5 percent. Violating lenders can be punished by jail terms of up to three years and fines up to ten times the involved interest amount.

INVESTIGATION UNDERWAY

Following Thanh Nien’s report published Monday (December 6), the police in District 1 summoned 28-year-old Nguyen Manh Cuong, previously identified as C., for interrogation. Cuong, who operates the money-lending service on Tran Hung Dao Street confessed he had lent money to students at a monthly interest of 21 percent. He also admitted that he had forced borrowers to sign false documents saying they received the money as a deposit for laptops. However, he failed to say how many students had borrowed money from him. A subsequent police raid of his facility found records of 29 students who had borrowed a total of VND185 million. The police also found several leaflets introducing his services. Police said Cuong has so far not revealed any connections with other loansharks’ services in Binh Thanh District or elsewhere in the city. A District 1 police officer said they are investigating the case and are determined to crack down on the loan sharks. Meanwhile, several students who had borrowed money from Cuong told Thanh Nien that they received anonymous phone calls instructing them to pay their debt at a facility in Binh Thanh District. The Binh Thanh District police told Thanh Nien they would verify the information about the loan sharks operating in their jurisdiction.

Reported by Thanh Nien staff