Chaos in the Romanian police is a paradise for forest thieves

Plunder in Rodna Mountains National Park #2

Bucharest, 19 February 2024 – Agent Green exposes the chaos in the Romanian police and their inability to intervene to stop illegal logging in Rodna Mountains National Park when called through 112 to respond to an offence in progress.

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The illegal logging takes place in the Plaiurile Heniului Forest District on the right bank of the Bistrița River in Bistrița Năsăud County, while the timber depot to which the felled trees are taken is on the opposite bank in Maramureș County. Only 140 metres of paved road separate the forest road from the logging site and the depot. Cîrlibaba in Suceava County is the nearest settlement. Agent Green investigators caught the timber trucks of a local logging company also carrying out transports that are not declared in SUMAL and are therefore illegal. Transports with a declared timber volume half the actual amount were also recorded. There is approval in the area for some salvage felling, meaning damaged timber, but the investigators discovered that green, healthy trees in Rodna Mountains National Park are also being felled.

Dan Cătălin Turiga, a forestry engineer with Agent Green, called 112 and provided all the necessary technical information. He was then transferred in turn, over 2 hours, to 6 different people from the police in Suceava, Borșa, Sângeorz Băi and Cîrlibaba. All promised to come to the site, but no police officer came to meet Turiga. The officer from Sângeorz Băi was the only one who had the courage during the phone call to criticise the system’s “bad bureaucracy” and say that “what matters is a prompt response”, referring to police jurisdiction in areas where 2 or more counties meet, as is the case here.

“It no longer even matters whether this is police impotence or collusion between them and the loggers, meaning organised crime or mafia. It is clear that timber thieves take full advantage of operating on the border between three counties. When you call 112, what matters is for someone to come immediately to stop the environmental crime, just as in a homicide case. Because pollution kills more people in Romania each year than bullets, knives, clubs or fists. And pollution is directly proportional to the number of trees that are not allowed to grow,” said Gabriel Păun, president of Agent Green.

The chaos in the police is the second episode of “Plunder in Rodna Mountains National Park”, through which Agent Green points out that the Romanian government has not met its governing commitment to strictly protect the forest in the 13 national parks, whose combined area represents just 1% of the country’s territory. The first episode presented abusive logging in the Someș-Țibleș forest district. The following episodes will present the Forest Guard’s catastrophic performance, illegal logging in other forest districts and the corporation that benefits from Rodna’s timber.

Agent Green calls on the Romanian government to put its police in order and honour its commitment to strictly protect national parks.