Authorities in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta province of Kien Giang announced on Friday afternoon the arrest of three people related to the illegal construction of 79 villas in Phu Quoc Island City.

Officers have also launched legal proceedings against the three people in question, whose identities are still undisclosed, for fraudulent sale of state-managed land, according to Le Quoc Anh, deputy chairman of the provincial People’s Committee.

On Wednesday, Phu Quoc authorities forcibly dismantled two out of the 79 villas illegally built in the state-owned land area of 18.9 hectares in Duong To Commune of the island city.

The coercion was carried out as the owners of these two villas failed to comply with the city administration’s order to remove the structures from the occupied land and restore the original state of the land plot.

Previously, the People’s Committee of Kien Giang assigned the People’s Committee of Duong To with managing the mentioned land plot, according to Tien Phong (Vanguard) newspaper. 

Around 2017-18, some local people sold the land plot to many people from other localities via unofficial procedures.

The new illegall owners constructed infrastructures such as private roads and water supply and drainage systems before reselling the land plot in smaller parts to others.

A special task force of the People’s Committee of Kien Giang discovered the incident in September.

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