Major illegal logging case: 340 hectares of forests cut illegally in northern Romania

Romania’s environment minister Costel Alexe announced on Wednesday, March 4, that over 100,000 cubic meters of wood were stolen from 340 hectares of forests in the county of Maramures, in northern Romania. He said that this is “the largest operation of illegal logging” registered in Romania in the last five years.

The minister visited Maramures at the end of last week.

“I would like to tell you that in Maramures, at the Sighet Forest Department, we have discovered what is probably the largest operation of illegal logging registered in Romania in the last five years. On an area of 340 hectares, deep in the woods, 100,000 cubic meters were stolen, […] a damage of more than RON 12 million caused to the Romanian state, and greater damages caused to the nature and obviously to the environment,” Alexe said, according to News.ro.

The Cluj Forest Guard discovered the case and the Prosecutor’s Office opened an investigation.

Referring to those involved in illegal cutting activities in Romania, the minister said that he would want all of them “handcuffed.”

“Together with the colleagues from the forest guards, I am determined to check in the coming period everything that moves in the forests and everything that moves on the roads of Romania, to put an end to these practices” he added.

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