Police in northern Quang Tri Province have seized two of the three men who killed five aloe wood hunters in a forest in the province on March 24. They are searching for the last culprit, an armed Laotian. A task force unit of the local border guard force and provincial police jointly raided a rock cave in Ta Rung Mountain, Huong Viet commune, Huong Hoa District and arrested Ho Van Thanh while he was sleeping inside. The joint force earlier seized Ho Van Cong, a local man, when he came to the Khe Mui stream in the district to fetch water. Cong and Thanh have pleaded guilty of killing five aloe wood hunters and based on their testimonies, the police are searching for the last culprit, a Laotian man armed with an AK assault rifle. As previously reported, five members of a group of 15 aloe wood hunters were killed on March 24 after they were attacked by three strangers in a forest in central Quang Binh Province, which borders Quang Tri. One of the survivors, Do Van Hien, said his group comprised 6 members who had searched for the precious scented wood in about 20 forests before their group merged with another group of nine on March 23. The new group later assigned seven members to return home to fetch more food, one member to pick fruits while the remaining seven people stayed and guarded their tents. At 11 am that day, three strange men appeared. One of them had an AK assault rifle in his hand, another held a number of ropes and the other threw stones at the tents. The strangers forced Hien to tie up six others of his group before they tied him and took all of them to another forest. After discussion, the strangers agreed to release Ha so that he could return home to bring the ransom. They told Ha to return by the evening of March 25. However, at about 2 am March 24, the strangers took one of the six hostages away and shot him dead. They later gunned down some others. At that time, Hien had successfully untied himself and ran away. Aloe wood is a very precious kind of wood, priced as high as US$5,000-6,000 per kilogram. It is common for poor people in central Vietnam to go deep into the forest to seek fortune.