Spikes on the road and police resistance: in Transcarpathia, a logging scheme worth millions was revealed

On the territory of the Yasinyan community of the Rakhiv district of the Zakarpattia region, a group of people started the process of illegal cutting down of a forest in one of the tracts and thereby caused more than UAH 8 million in damage.

This was reported by the press service of the Zakarpattia Regional Prosecutor's Office.

In order to expose the "black loggers", law enforcement officers conducted a special operation, during which they encountered active resistance from the population. In order to prevent the police from reaching the place of the felling, the perpetrators laid spikes and "hedgehogs" made of rebar on the way. They also partially damaged the bridge on the road to the places of storage of illegally cut trees and sawmills. As a result, 6 cars – police cars and trucks – were damaged.

According to operational data, several entrepreneurs and local residents are involved in the illegal construction. They cut coniferous and valuable wood, in particular, in the areas of the nature reserve fund. The perpetrators used their own vehicle to track it down. For convenience, they equipped transport routes in the forested area with bridges.

Part of the logs received by "black loggers" were delivered to sawmills and prepared for sale on the territory of Ukraine, the other part was sold on the spot for cash.

The law enforcement officers have already conducted a large amount of investigative actions: searches and inspections of the residences of those involved, places of felling, storage and processing of illegally obtained wood. They seized more than 100 logs of various types of wood, chainsaws, trolling equipment, money and mobile phones.

The damage from the illegal activity of the group of criminals has already exceeded 8 million hryvnias. Specialists are still calculating the exact amount of damages.

In the course of the pre-trial investigation, the law enforcement officers promise to identify other persons who were involved in the criminal scheme.

The other day, EсoPolitic published anti-rating of regions of Ukraine by the volume of illegal logging. We also reported that in Khmelnytskyi region will judge "black loggers" who caused losses of UAH 3.3 million.

As EcoPolitic informed earlier, the director of the forest farm in Volyn suspect in corruption. He and his family found property worth UAH 27 million.