In Kharkiv region, law enforcement officers conducted large-scale searches of black loggers and seized UAH 1 million, $67 thousand, and €6 thousand from them.
The offenders have been conducting illegal logging since 2021 and have caused the state damage worth UAH 1 million, the Kharkiv Regional Prosecutor's Office reports on Facebook.
It is noted that black loggers cut down valuable trees in the Chuhuiv district and sold them. Currently, law enforcement officers, in particular from the Specialized Environmental Prosecutor's Office, are conducting a pre-trial investigation in criminal proceedings on the fact of illegal felling, illegal transportation, storage and sale of timber, which caused serious consequences (Part 4 of Article 246 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).
The report said that law enforcement officers conducted more than 30 authorized searches at places of business, logging and storage of illegally cut timber. More than 5 thousand cubic meters of wood, money (UAH 1 million, $67 thousand and €6 thousand), trucks and special equipment, mobile and computer equipment, etc. were seized from the offenders.
"The investigation is ongoing, the necessary investigative and procedural actions are being carried out. The persons involved in the crime are being identified," the press service emphasized.
Earlier, EcoPolitic wrote, that a group of 10 employees of "Ukrzaliznytsia" was exposed in Kharkiv Oblast, who illegally cut down trees and sold them, as well as used the company's equipment and fuel.
As EcoPolitic previously reported, in Volyn prosecutors exposed two officials from the state forest farms who organized the scheme of illegal felling of trees and their subsequent implementation through a controlled sawmill.
