National Forests urges public: do not buy firewood from suspicious sellers

Public Enterprise National Forests issued a public appeal ahead of the heating season, urging citizens not to buy firewood from suspicious sellers or at unusually low prices, warning that such purchases directly sustain illegal logging.

Officials said experience shows that illegal felling is rarely the work of lone individuals and is often run by organised networks that profit from the country’s natural resources. They also stressed that forest rangers and the forest police frequently face threats and even attacks while fighting these criminal groups.

Deputy director: attacks on officials carry prison terms

Deputy Director Kire Mihailov warned that anyone who “dares in the future to lay a hand on an authorised official” should be prepared for “a serious prison sentence” because such an act constitutes an attack on an official, he said.

Mihailov also acknowledged there are cases in which employees of the enterprise have been linked to criminal groups. “Yes, there are still our employees for whom we have established certain connections with criminal structures, and wherever we detect that, there is no pardon. Proceedings are immediately initiated with regard to what we have as evidence and we have suspensions, criminal charges,” he said.

In addition to theft, Macedonian forests are damaged every year by arsonists; the authorities warned that fires cause large losses to woodland areas and pose a threat to public health.

Photo: press material from the event