Vietnamese authorities detected more than 3,600 cases violating regulations on environment protection in the first five months of this year, soaring 270% against the same period of last year, said the Vietnamese Police Agency of Environmental Crime. The police imposed VND30 billion ($1.58 million) fines on the violators between Jan and May, the Sai Gon Giai Phong newspaper reported June 7, citing the agency. Over 90% of the total cases are involved in discharging waste and exhausted fumes. The government has raised the fine level on environmental violators to VND500 million maximally, seven times higher than the previous penalty of VND70 million under a new decision that took effect on March 1, 2010. The Southeast Asian country will spend VND6 trillion for environment protection activities this year.
