An ordinary freighter that looks like nothing unusual is actually a luxury sand stealing ship that costs millions of yuan to refit. Two "invisible" sand suction pumps at the bow, cabin and stern of the ship can suck thousands of tons of sand in just one hour, making hundreds of thousands of yuan in one night.

"Xinhua view" reporter recently found in many places along the Yangtze River that driven by huge profits, some sand stealing gangs committed crimes against the wind, evaded supervision and even blocked law enforcement. Some gathering places of sand stealing are very busy at night, which leads to the breakwater phenomenon. These illegal sand dredgers, like the "blood sucking insects" eroding the health of the Yangtze River, not only seriously damage the ecosystem of the Yangtze River, but also affect the safety of navigation channels, embankments and bridges.

All kinds of refitted sand dredgers have appeared, and some of them have broken the dam

All kinds of refitted sand dredgers, "Big Mac" sand carriers, flexible small speedboats During a recent visit to Chongqing, Hubei, Anhui and other places along the Yangtze River, the reporter found that in some places, sand related ships in the Yangtze River were concentrated at the docking points, and the illegal sand related ships captured by law enforcement departments were linked together, up to hundreds of them, with a spectacular scene.

According to the relevant person in charge of the river sand mining administration bureau of the Yangtze River Water Resources Commission of the Ministry of water resources, under the background of high-pressure regulation of illegal sand mining in many places and departments along the Yangtze River, some gangs commit crimes against the wind, with more and more secret equipment and more diverse means. There are even new trends such as employing high-priced small speedboats to watch and evade supervision.

Data show that in the first 10 months of 2020, the long hang public security organs set up 907 illegal mining cases, and cracked down on 561 suspect suspects. Take Wuhu City, which has been cracking down on illegal sand mining in recent years, as an example. In 2020, more than 200 illegal sand mining vessels and illegal sand transport vessels will be captured in Wuhu City, and dozens of small speedboats will be captured, more than in 2019.

Mr. Wang of Ma'anshan City said that he had seen sand stealing gangs steal river sand at night many times and were intimidated. "We have several ships on the Yangtze River. They steal sand in front of us for many nights in a row."

Reporters in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, a main stream of the Yangtze River sand gathering point to see that one side of the bank has burst, tributaries sporadically docked with small boats, as well as abandoned sand suction pipe. "In the dry season, it's like a vegetable market at night. Several boats steal sand together." Xiao Chen, a volunteer who has been paying close attention to the protection of the Yangtze River for many years, said.

Illegal sand dredgers, like blood sucking insects, are eroding the health of the Yangtze River.

Industry experts said that there are many hazards in the illegal mining of river sand, which will seriously threaten the ecology of the Yangtze River, dike and navigation safety of ships. Disordered and excessive sand mining will lead to a large number of deep pits in the originally flat river channel, forming vortices, threatening navigation safety; at the same time, it will also change the riverbed topography, leading to the decline of groundwater level, deterioration of water quality, endangering the drinking water safety of people along the river.

"Illegal sand mining will destroy the living environment of aquatic organisms in the Yangtze River. The modified luxury sand stealing boat turns on the sand suction pump, which is like a huge vacuum cleaner. It will not only suck away the river sand, but also the small fish, shrimp and aquatic plants at the bottom of the water, 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 sand and stone in the Yangtze River is the common resource of the people of the whole country. Disorderly sand mining not only damages the ecological environment of the Yangtze River, affects the habitat and reproduction of aquatic organisms, but may even directly destroy flood dikes, bridges and other river projects."

The illegal cost of sand stealing is very low, and some regulators become the "umbrella" of criminal gangs

A medium-sized sand stealing ship can absorb thousands of tons of sand in just one hour and make hundreds of thousands of yuan in one night. It can recover the cost of refitting the ship in one week.

Driven by huge profits, sand stealing gangs are desperate. They implement organizational division of labor, use technical means to evade supervision and seek "umbrella" support. At the same time, the technical means of law enforcement departments are weak, and it is difficult to realize the supervision of broad river basin only by manpower.

A riverside crowd "undercover" into a sand stealing gang in 2020, he was arranged to drive a small speedboat to watch at a fixed point. According to him, ship refitting, sand stealing, transportation and sales There is a very clear division of labor within the sand stealing gang. Even in the aspect of stalking, there are many people in charge of each section, and a notice is issued as soon as the wind blows.

Reporters have twice followed law enforcement officers to crack down on illegal sand mining in Wuhan section of the Yangtze River late at night, and both found that refitted ships with invisible pumps steal sand by night. As soon as the sand stealing Gang found the law enforcement officers, they quickly put away their equipment and rushed ashore to flee. One lawless man saw that there was nowhere to escape, so he threw his mobile phone into the river in an attempt to destroy the evidence.

A number of law enforcement officers told reporters that the characteristics of the illegal sand dredgers, such as miniaturization, seclusion, and wandering, are becoming more and more obvious, and their anti reconnaissance ability is becoming stronger and stronger. "When the criminals commit crimes, they will send people to" cruise "on the river, and even send special people to stare at the patrol boats of the law enforcement departments, and we will often be in the air when handling cases."

The relevant person in charge of Changhang Public Security Bureau said that the criminals are very cunning now, most of them work on the sand boat, and the boss hides behind. After finding out the boss, the court sentenced him to three or four years at most. "It's not easy to catch the current illegal sand mining machine, but it can only cut the illegal sand mining machine on the ship. Compared with the probability of being investigated and the degree of punishment, the illegal cost of sand theft is very low. "

It is worth noting that behind the unscrupulous sand stealing gangs, there are often regulators who are reduced to "protective umbrellas". Some large-scale illegal sand stealing cases investigated and dealt with in Hubei, Jiangsu and other places show that under the temptation of interests, the direct management personnel of maritime, water conservancy, port and shipping departments lose the principle, some collect "benefit fee" from the ship owner privately, and some directly participate in the profit sharing in the name of "share".

To control illegal sand mining, we must build a chain of responsibility and weave a supervision network

According to the interviewees, the joint efforts of many localities and departments are needed to rectify illegal sand mining.

Sand stealing ship is the main tool of illegal sand mining. While the law enforcement departments are vigorously dismantling sand dredgers, some shipyards are constantly illegally refitting sand dredgers, and the new speed is even faster than dismantling. However, ship refitting, shipping, sand stealing and river sand trading often belong to many places, while supervision belongs to different departments such as industry and information technology, transportation and water conservancy. It is difficult to control illegal sand mining only by one department.

"To deal with illegal sand mining, we must build a chain of responsibility and weave a regulatory network. It is impossible to eradicate illegal sand mining only by cracking down on direct sand stealing and ignoring the acts of assisting its transportation, loading and unloading, warehousing, trade and use. " Xu Guoyi, director of the office of Shanghai Composite port management committee, said that all units related to the whole chain of sand theft should take responsibility for rectification, strengthen information exchange and law enforcement linkage.

Reporters in some cities along the river found that some places are using technical means to strengthen the crackdown on illegal sand mining. For example, the installation of night visual video surveillance in the main stream of the Yangtze River basically realizes the full coverage of the river, and the law enforcement personnel can see the monitoring situation in real time at the base. Another example is to upgrade the equipment for the law enforcement team and add flexible small speedboats.

The masses along the Yangtze River believe that it is necessary to strictly investigate the interest chain of sand stealing in the Yangtze River and remove the regulators who act as "protective umbrellas" in order to eradicate the persistent disease of sand stealing completely.

In addition, the interviewees suggested that more dredged sand and machine-made sand could be used to replace the Yangtze River channel sand to meet the sand demand in the market. At present, some reservoirs, navigation channels and ports are seriously silted up, but due to the high cost of dredging and desilting sand, complicated procedures and insufficient market power. The procedure should be further simplified to smooth the utilization channel of dredged sand and turn waste into treasure.

Source: Xinhua News Agency