Tran Van Quan, 69, director of Duong Lam Joint Stock Company and a resident of Tan Hung Ward in Ho Chi Minh City, has been charged with illegally transporting radioactive substances under Article 309 of the Penal Code.
The Security Investigation Agency of Lang Son Province Police opened the criminal case and charged him on May 13, then executed an arrest warrant for his detention on May 16. The provincial People’s Procuracy approved the decisions.
Officers found the monazite as the shipment was being processed for export. The seizure was made by police in Lang Son Province on the border with China. Laboratory testing confirmed the ore was radioactive and contained a high proportion of rare earth oxides, police said.
Because monazite is classified as a radioactive substance, its illegal movement falls under Vietnam’s law on radioactive and nuclear materials rather than ordinary mining rules.
Police serve the decision to prosecute Tran Van Quan (2nd, R). Photo courtesy of police |
Monazite is a reddish-brown to yellowish-brown phosphate mineral and a major ore of the rare earth elements cerium, lanthanum and neodymium, which are used to make magnets, electronics and other high-tech products. It is also the most important natural ore of thorium, a radioactive element that gives monazite its radioactivity and is being studied as a possible nuclear fuel. In Vietnam, the mineral occurs in heavy-mineral sand deposits along the central coast, where it is found alongside ilmenite and zircon.
Lang Son Province Police said it was the first time they had handled a case involving such a large volume of radioactive raw material. The case showed that despite tighter state management of the extraction, trade and transport of natural resources, particularly rare and precious minerals, gaps and shortcomings in oversight remained, they said.
Widening the investigation, officers searched Duong Lam Joint Stock Company’s office in Lam Dong Province and the company’s ilmenite-zircon processing plant in Hoa Thang Commune, also in Lam Dong, seizing documents and other items. Police said they were continuing to work with the provincial procuracy to determine the roles of other individuals and organizations linked to the ore’s extraction and attempted export.
Rare earths are essential to electric vehicles, wind turbines, consumer electronics and defense systems. In May 2025, a court in Hanoi convicted more than 20 officials and business figures, including a former deputy minister of natural resources and environment, over the illegal exploitation and export of rare earths.
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