Chinese fined in Vietnam for illegal dragon fruit dealing

By Hong Chau   August 28, 2016 | 01:58 am PT
Traders were using tourist visas to pick up the juicy crop.

Authorities in Vietnam's south central province of Binh Thuan have fined Chinese nationals for illegally purchasing locally-grown dragon fruit to ship back to their homeland.

Police in Binh Thuan identified 28 Chinese people who had entered Vietnam on tourist visas to trade dragon fruit.

chinese-fined-in-vietnam-for-illegal-dragon-fruit-dealing

Chinese dealers buy Vietnamese dragon fruit in large quantities to ship back to their homeland. Photo from VnExpress

The People’s Committee has issued fines worth VND235 million (nearly $11,000) for trading in Vietnam without permission an confiscated 12 tons of dragon fruit.

Police officials also shortened the stay period in Vietnam of the ones being fined for first time and proposed Vietnam Immigration Department (the Ministry of Public Security) to ban the entry to Vietnam against repeaters for certain period of time.

Many major wholesalers that trade dragon fruit are located in the districts of Ham Thuan Nam and Ham Thuan Bac. They are owned and operated by Vietnamese residents, but backed by Chinese nationals behind the scenes.

Binh Thuan is home to Vietnam’s biggest dragon fruit plantation with over 22,000 hectares.

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