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Xinhua Perspective | New Trends in Black Soil Protection Part 3: Under Severe Crackdown, Who Still Has the Mind of Black Soil?

The annual grain production in Northeast China accounts for nearly a quarter of the country, and one of the key factors is the precious black soil. It takes hundreds of years for every 1 centimeter of black soil to form, but illegal mining can cause damage to the black soil in an instant.

According to recent research conducted by Xinhua Vision reporters, various regions in Northeast China are continuously strengthening the protection of black soil, and black soil crimes have shown a downward trend. However, under high pressure, there are still occasional occurrences

Black soil crime is on the decline, and cases still occur occasionally

In recent years, Heilongjiang, Jilin, Liaoning, Inner Mongolia and other regions have successively introduced local regulations, providing legal protection for strengthening the protection of black soil. The official implementation of the Black Soil Protection Law in 2022 marks the entry of black soil protection into a legal and standardized track.

"The crackdown on black soil crimes continues to increase, and the Black Soil Protection Law clearly prohibits illegal excavation, indiscriminate excavation, and illegal buying and selling of black soil, providing 'iron teeth and steel teeth' to protect black soil. From the number of cases investigated, black soil criminal activities have shown a clear downward trend." said Wu Yong, the head of the Environmental Support Team of the Ecological Environment Crime Investigation Brigade of the Jilin Provincial Public Security Department.

Tractors are fertilizing in a farmland in Heilongjiang province. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Wang Song on April 12th

The reporter learned from the interview that although black soil crime is showing a downward trend, it still occasionally occurs.

In early March this year, the public security organs of Heilongjiang Province cracked a case of villagers suspected of selling black soil based on clues reported by the public. The individuals involved, Wang He, Gao Tao, and Zhang, have been investigated and subjected to criminal coercive measures.

In March 2022, the Public Security Bureau of Dunhua City, Yanbian Prefecture, Jilin Province, cracked a case of illegal excavation of black soil, arrested 11 suspect and detained 30000 cubic meters of black soil. The police investigation found that these illegally mined black soil have been sold to 8 provinces and cities across the country, involving 73000 cubic meters of stolen black soil with a total amount of over 5 million yuan.

The White Paper on Public Interest Litigation for Rural Land Resource Protection in Liaoning Province, released by the Liaoning Provincial Procuratorate, has also released multiple related cases. Among them, in the case of Xie illegally occupying 67 acres of agricultural land handled by the People's Procuratorate of Beipiao City in Chaoyang, Xie built factories, office buildings, drying sites, etc. on the cultivated land for the production and sale of bentonite, damaging the cultivation layer by more than 20 centimeters, and the land planting conditions were damaged and unable to be cultivated.

Disguising dredging and carrying out soil theft have made crimes involving black soil increasingly covert

The reporter learned from multiple public security organs that as a scarce resource, black soil is often sold by poachers at a price of over 30 yuan per kilogram, with some black market transactions reaching up to 150 yuan per kilogram. Driven by high profits, criminal activities involving black soil have recently shown some new changes. Trading and illegal activities are also becoming more covert.

In order to avoid investigation by public security organs, soil vendors usually only choose to deal with acquaintances, and the places where black soil is bought and sold are usually hidden in villages. When storing black soil, try to lay it flat on the ground as much as possible to avoid being discovered, which increases the difficulty for relevant departments to investigate and deal with buying and selling behavior.

"On the one hand, we continuously strengthen online intelligence sorting and analysis, timely verify suspicious clues such as selling 'humus soil', 'peat soil', and 'nutrient soil' on e-commerce platforms, and leverage the functional advantages of various police types. Combined with the construction of the 'one village, one police' project, we will go deep into the fields, villages, markets, shops, and market stalls, and carry out comprehensive and network style clues investigation." said Zhang Yandong, Deputy Director of the Huangnihe Police Station of Dunhua Public Security Bureau.

In addition, the investigation by reporters found that some criminals carried out illegal mining under the pretext of dredging rivers and reservoirs, land management, ecological restoration, etc. Some people, under the pretext of contracting forest land, illegally mine black soil after surrounding the mining site, deceive the public, and evade attacks from public security organs.

"We once investigated a case. The suspect stole black soil in a remote mountain gully, and all of them were activities in the middle of the night, which added a lot of difficulties to the detection work." Zhang Zhiqiang, a police officer of the Food, Drug and Environmental Crime Investigation Brigade of the Dunhua Public Security Bureau, said.

Forming high-pressure deterrence

After spring plowing, thousands of acres of paddy fields in the lower reaches of the Liao River are like mirrors, and new green has slowly emerged. In a field in Lujia Village, Lujia Town, Shuangtaizi District, Panjin City, Liaoning Province, bulldozers are roaring incessantly as they level an illegal field road and restore it to arable land.

In order to severely crack down on black soil crimes, the High Court of Liaoning Province and the Provincial Public Security Department and other units jointly signed the Implementation Plan for the Special Action to Crackdown on Black and Evil Crimes in the Natural Resources Field, such as "Sand Tyrant" and "Mining Tyrant", to severely punish illegal mining, illegal occupation of agricultural land and other black and evil forces in accordance with the law.

In recent days, the Market Supervision Bureau of Shuangyashan City, Heilongjiang Province has conducted inspections on flower shops, flower markets, flower planting and sales bases, and agricultural markets in its jurisdiction. It has thoroughly checked the relevant procedures such as the black soil purchase ledger, and inspected possible illegal clues, forming a continuous crackdown on black soil crimes.

"Heilongjiang Province is further implementing a strict system for protecting arable land, implementing topsoil stripping for non-agricultural construction occupying arable land cultivation layers, adopting 'tooth like' hard measures, and seriously investigating and punishing illegal and irregular occupation of arable land." Zhao Jinghai, Deputy Director of the Department of Natural Resources of Heilongjiang Province, said.

This year, for the third consecutive year, the public security organs of Jilin Province have deployed a special operation to crack down on crimes that damage black soil resources. The public security organs of Jilin Province have strengthened cooperation and cooperation with departments such as natural resources, agriculture and rural areas, and established mechanisms for information sharing, situation exchange, and case transfer.

"We are weaving a 'sky and earth network' to continue to form a high-pressure deterrence against black soil crimes, while continuously deepening cooperation and using satellite remote sensing technology to set up a 'sky eye' on the black soil of Jilin," said Wu Yong.