Problems with energy resources and, consequently, their prices have caused the number of timber thefts in the forests of Nadleśnictwo Bolesławiec to triple. What is more, organized groups of robbers equipped with chainsaws are involved in this practice.
Deciduous trees are the main target of the thieves. This criminal activity can now be highly profitable because the black-market price of timber is very high.
And although the Bolesławiec forest guards have more than 20,000 hectares of forest to protect, the detection rate is not the worst: 50 percent.
Let us recall that theft is punishable by between three months and as many as five years in prison.