This afternoon, Colonel Nguyen Duc Long, Deputy Director of Hanoi City Police, announced that six other individuals, in addition to Hoa (former head of Minh Tan village, now Thai Vu village, Kim Anh commune), have been implicated. Long stated that due to the ongoing investigation, specific details could not yet be released.

Colonel Nguyen Duc Long at the Ministry of Public Security's Q3 press conference, 1/10. *Photo: Pham Du*

Hanoi Police launched an investigation after Thanh Nien newspaper published an article titled "Images of villas, homestays mushrooming in the protected forest" last August. The report highlighted numerous villas, homestays, bungalows, and resorts with signs of violations appearing in the Dong Do Lake area, part of the Soc Son protected forest.

Subsequently, on the morning of 4/9, the Kim Anh Commune People's Committee mobilized about 90 people and machinery to enforce demolition for four construction violations in Thai Vu village. These included Solara Dong Do, which had 475 square meters of structures to be dismantled, comprising: a one-story house, a basic house, a swimming pool, a two-story house with a rooftop extension, and an iron gate.

Huy Hoang Homestay had 12 items slated for demolition, including nine iron-frame structures, a swimming pool, and a concrete yard.

The third structure, with three components, totaled over 198 square meters, and the fourth structure covered 154 square meters. Both featured foundations built of brick, bound by mortar, cement, and sand, standing over 3 meters above the natural ground level.

Some violating structures in Soc Son forest. *Photo: Linh Dan*

According to the Kim Anh Commune People's Committee, the four structures committed one of the following violations: converting protected forest land to non-agricultural land (not residential) without proper state agency authorization, or damaging land by altering the surface slope (e.g., scraping surface grass, renovating ponds/gardens, or leveling).

The Commune People's Committee admitted that since the implementation of the two-tier local government system from 1/7/2025, several violating structures have emerged in the Dong Do Lake protected forest area but have not been promptly addressed.

Soc Son protected forest spans 4,557 hectares, covering 10 communes: Minh Phu, Minh Tri, Hien Ninh, Bac Son, Nam Son, Hong Ky, Phu Linh, Quang Tien, Tien Duoc, Tan Minh, and Soc Son. Encroachment on Soc Son forest land has been a persistent issue for many years.

The Government Inspectorate previously uncovered numerous violations after inspecting the management and use of forest land at Soc Son Forestry Enterprise and nine communes. However, remediation efforts have been slow, allowing further violations to occur.