A KIND of protected plant known as Cibotium barometz was largely destroyed at an illegal quarry found in Qiniang Mountain in Dapeng New Area recently. Police have already summoned the operator of the quarry, the Shenzhen Evening News reported.

The newspaper received a tip-off from a volunteer with a local environment protection association Saturday, claiming that someone had destroyed the precious plant on Qiniang Mountain.

According to the whistleblower, surnamed Zhang, he was driving past the location Saturday when he saw a pile of stones that did not seem to be a natural formation. Upon going further into the forest, Zhang was shocked to find the quarry.

With the association and several “River Chiefs,” reporters of the newspaper arrived at the scene the next day. Police officers from the city’s forest public security bureau also went to the scene to investigate.

The illegal quarry was found at a covert location near a valley on the mountain. Piles of crushed stones were found in the quarry with steel and iron tools scattered on the ground.

Some withered branches were tied up in bunches and placed near the stones. These branches were identified as Cibotium barometz. The species belongs to the national second-class protected plant category.

“We guess that the quarrymen did not know about this plant, and neither do they understand that this place belongs to the first-class water reservoir protection area, but their behavior will certainly cause water and soil erosion and damage the ecological environment here,” said one of the River Chiefs surnamed Zhou.

The volunteers and River Chiefs then found that several owners of restaurants were drinking tea at one of the restaurants, but none of them said they knew anything about the quarry.

When the volunteers were about to leave the restaurant, one of them found some suspicious stones piled up in front of an office next to the restaurant. On the wall of the office, the volunteers also spotted plates that indicated the office was a base for the promotion of popular science.

The police were suspicious of the base due to the evidence they had collected at the quarry and summoned the owner of the base, known as Duan, for investigation. Duan eventually admitted that he had hired five quarrymen to collect stones in the area, but the owner said he knew nothing about the protected plant.

Further investigation will be carried out, according to the police. (Zhang Qian)