It can suck thousands of tons of sand in just one hour, and the "blood-sucking bugs" erode the health of the Yangtze River...Why can illegal sand mining boats stand against the wind?
Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, January 12th, title: Can suck thousands of tons of sand in just one hour, "blood-sucking worms" erode the health of the Yangtze River... Why can illegal sand mining vessels stand up to the wind?
Xinhua News Agency "Xinhua Viewpoint" reporters Dong Xue, Wang Xian, Han Zhen, Jia Yuankun
An ordinary cargo ship that looks unremarkable is actually a luxury sand pirate ship that costs millions of dollars to modify; the two "invisible" sand suction pumps in the bow, cabin and stern are activated and can suck sand in just one hour Thousand tons, hundreds of thousands of yuan in profit in one night.
"Xinhua Viewpoint" reporters recently conducted investigations in many places along the Yangtze River and found that driven by windfall profits, some sand-thief gangs committed crimes, evaded supervision and even blocked law enforcement.
Some stolen sand gathering spots were very lively at night, and the embankment collapsed as a result.
These illegal sand mining vessels are like "blood-sucking bugs" that erode the health of the Yangtze River. They not only severely damage the Yangtze River ecosystem, but also affect the safety of waterways, dikes and bridges.
Various modified versions of sand mining ships are infested, and some stolen sands have broken dams
Various modified sand mining ships, "Big Mac" sand transport ships, flexible speedboats... The reporter recently visited Chongqing, Hubei, Anhui and other places along the Yangtze River and discovered that sand-wading ships in the Yangtze River are concentrated in some places. At the docking point, the illegal sand-related ships captured by law enforcement agencies are connected together, as many as hundreds of them, and the scene is spectacular.
According to the relevant person in charge of the River Sand Mining Management Bureau of the Yangtze River Water Conservancy Commission of the Ministry of Water Resources, in the context of illegal sand mining in many places and departments along the Yangtze River, some gangs are fighting against the wind, their equipment is becoming more and more secretive, and their methods are becoming more and more diverse. There have even been new trends such as hiring high-priced speedboats to follow and evade supervision.
Statistics show that in the first 10 months of 2020, the Changhang Airlines public security organs established 907 illegal mining cases and cracked down on 561 criminal suspects.
Take Wuhu City, which has continued to crack down on illegal sand mining in recent years, as an example. In 2020, the city has captured more than 200 illegal sand mining ships and illegal sand transporting ships, and dozens of small speedboats, more than in 2019.
Mr. Wang from Ma'anshan City said that he had witnessed sand thief gangs stealing river sand at night and was intimidated many times.
"We have a few ships on the Yangtze River, and they have been stealing sand in front of us for many nights."
The reporter saw at a gathering point for sand stealing in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River that one side of the river bank had breached the embankment, and small speedboats and abandoned sand suction pipes were scattered in the tributaries.
"In the dry season, the night here is bustling like a vegetable market, and several ships steal sand together." said Xiao Chen, a volunteer who has been concerned about the protection of the Yangtze River.
Illegal sand mining boats are eroding the health of the Yangtze River like "blood suckers".
Industry experts said that pirate mining of river sand has many hazards, which will seriously threaten the ecology of the Yangtze River, the safety of dikes and ships.
Disorderly and excessive sand mining will cause a large number of deep pits in the originally flat rivers to form whirlpools, threatening the safety of navigation. At the same time, it will also change the topography of the riverbed, resulting in a drop in groundwater level, deterioration of water quality, and endangering the safety of drinking water for people along the river.
"Illegal sand mining will destroy the environment on which the aquatic life of the Yangtze River depends. The modified luxury sand pirate boat turns on the sand suction pump, like a huge vacuum cleaner, which will not only suck away the river sand, but also the small fishes and shrimps from the bottom of the water. Aquatic plants will also be sucked away, and the ecosystem of that water area will be destroyed." Xiao Chen said.
Chen Guiya, deputy chief engineer of the Yangtze River Water Conservancy Commission, said: “The Yangtze River sand and gravel are the common resources of the people across the country. Disorderly mining of sand not only destroys the ecological environment of the Yangtze River, but also affects the habitat and reproduction of aquatic organisms. It may even directly destroy flood control dikes, bridges and other river channels. engineering."
The illegal cost of sand theft is very low, and some regulators have become the "protective umbrella" of criminal gangs
A medium-sized sand pirate ship can absorb thousands of tons of sand in just one hour, and can make hundreds of thousands of yuan in one night, and can recover the cost of buying and refitting the ship in one week.
Driven by huge profits, the sand-thieves gang took the risk.
They implement an organized division of labor, use technical means to evade supervision, and seek "protective umbrella" support.
At the same time, the technical means of law enforcement agencies are weak, and it is difficult to supervise the vast watershed by manpower alone.
A riverside resident "undercovered" into a sand-pirate gang in 2020, and he was arranged to drive a small speedboat to watch.
According to him, ship refitting, sand stealing, transportation, sales...the sand stealing gang has a very clear division of labor; even the stalking link has multiple people responsible for it in sections, and promptly issue notifications whenever there is a turmoil.
The reporter had twice followed law enforcement officers late at night to crack down on illegal sand mining in the Wuhan section of the Yangtze River, and found that a modified ship with an invisible pump was used to steal sand in the dark.
As soon as the sand-thief gang found the law enforcement officers, they hurriedly put away their equipment and rushed ashore to escape.
Seeing that there was nowhere to escape, a lawbreaker threw his mobile phone into the river in an attempt to destroy the evidence.
A number of law enforcement officials told reporters that the characteristics of illegal sand mining vessels being miniaturized, concealed, and fleeing to commit crimes are becoming more and more obvious, and their anti-reconnaissance capabilities are getting stronger and stronger. "When criminals commit crimes, they will send people to'crawl' on the surface of the river, or even special personnel. Staring at the patrol boats of law enforcement agencies, we often go to the skies when handling cases."
The relevant person in charge of the Changhang Public Security Bureau said that the criminals are now very cunning. Most of the sand boats are working, and the bosses are hiding behind.
Efforts to find the boss, the court sentenced at most three to four years.
"After finally catching the current situation, I can only cut the illegal sand mining machines on the ship. Compared with the probability of being investigated and the punishment, the illegal cost of sand stealing is very low."
What is worthy of vigilance is that behind the unscrupulous sand-pirate gangs, there are often regulators who become "protective umbrellas."
Some large-scale illegal sand theft cases investigated and dealt with in Hubei, Jiangsu and other places show that under the lure of interests, direct managers of maritime, water conservancy, port and shipping departments have lost the principle, and some privately charge the shipowner a "facilitation fee", and some use " The name of "investing in shares" directly participates in the distribution of the profits of the stolen sand.
Remediation of illegal sand mining must build a chain of responsibility and weave a supervision network
Interviewees believe that rectification of illegal sand mining requires joint efforts from multiple locations and multiple departments.
Sand stealing ships are the main tools for illegal sand mining.
While law enforcement agencies are vigorously dismantling sand mining ships, some shipyards continue to illegally modify sand mining ships, and the rate of addition is even faster than the dismantling.
However, ship modification, shipping, sand stealing, and river sand trading are often divided into multiple locations, while supervision is divided into different departments such as industry and information, transportation, and water conservancy. It is difficult to rectify illegal sand mining with only one location and one department.
"To rectify illegal sand mining, we must build a chain of responsibility and weave a supervision network. Only combating direct sand theft, while assisting its transportation, handling, storage, trade, and use, will not be able to eradicate illegal sand mining." Xu Guoyi, director of the Office of the Management Committee, said that units related to the entire chain of sand stolen must bear the responsibility for rectification, and strengthen information exchange and law enforcement linkage.
Reporters visited some cities along the Yangtze River and found that some places are using technical means to strengthen the fight against illegal sand mining.
For example, the installation of night-time visual video surveillance on the main stream of the Yangtze River has basically achieved full coverage of the river, and law enforcement officers can see the monitoring situation in real time at the base.
Another example is upgrading equipment for law enforcement teams and adding flexible small speedboats.
The people on the riverside believe that the chain of interests of sand stealing from the Yangtze River must be strictly investigated, and the supervisors who act as "protective umbrellas" must be eliminated in order to completely eradicate the chronic sand stealing disease.
In addition, interviewees suggested that more dredged sand and machine-made sand can be used instead of Yangtze River channel sand to meet the demand for sand in the market.
At present, some reservoirs, waterways, and ports have serious siltation of sand and gravel. However, due to the high cost of dredging and dredging sand, complicated procedures, and insufficient market momentum.
The procedures should be further simplified, channels for the use of dredged sand should be unblocked, and waste should be turned into treasure.