Deputy director of Public Enterprise "National Forests" urges citizens: don't buy stolen firewood

Deputy director of the Public Enterprise "National Forests", Kire Mihailov, appealed to citizens not to buy firewood from people who obtain it through illegal felling, warning that each purchase directly props up criminal networks that plunder the country's forests.

Attacks on staff and organised groups

Mihailov said organised groups stand behind much of the illegal logging and that some members do not hesitate to attack company employees and forest police. He pointed to an incident this summer in the Štip Region as an example.

"All those who will dare in the future to raise a hand against an authorized official must be prepared in advance that a serious prison sentence follows, because this is an attack on an official," Mihailov said, stressing the criminal implications of assaults on staff.

He also admitted that, at times, people from within the enterprise have been implicated in criminal schemes. "Yes, we still have employees, for whom, unfortunately, we established certain connections with criminal structures and wherever we detect that, there will be no pardon. Procedures are immediately initiated based on the evidence we have and we have suspensions, criminal charges and disciplinary procedures," he added.

Besides losses from illegal cutting, Mihailov underlined that Macedonian forests suffer great damage each year from fires caused by arsonists. He informed that "last month" the Public Enterprise had recorded a total of 138 forest fires so far this season, and that the burn scars from this summer amount to hundreds of hectares; the full extent of the damage is still being determined.

Mihailov concluded by urging citizens to refuse cheap firewood sold informally and to report suspicious activity to the authorities, saying that cutting demand for illicit wood is essential to weakening the criminal groups behind the thefts.

Photo: press material from the event