English
In a coordinated action of several police services, 15 persons were detained in Berovo and Pehcevo, including officials from the local Interior Ministry, the Macedonian forests company and the Agriculture Ministry.
The group was involved in illegal logging in the Malesevo forests, and the members are also charged with bribery and abuse of office. Nearly 200,000 EUR were seized from them, as were two rifles. Members of the group issued false permits for the felled trees, allowing the loggers to sell it legally. Four of them were involved in giving information about the police patrols who could have caught the loggers. The scale of the operation is enormous – put at 6,000 hectares of forests that were cut down.
