The forest hammer in the wrong hands: a "Galichica" clerk suspected of handing the stamp to a haulier from Bitola

In Macedonia's forests there is one tool that decides whether a piece of wood is legal or stolen: the marking hammer. The stamp on a log says the felling was controlled, the origin was checked and the state knows where the timber is going. That very hammer, according to a criminal complaint from the Ohrid Interior Affairs Sector, ended up in the wrong hands.

The first person named is a 44-year-old resident of Botun in Debrca, a transport clerk at the "Galichica" - Ohrid forestry enterprise. He is charged with "negligent performance of duty". According to police, instead of carrying out the checks himself, he handed the official hammer to a 45-year-old haulier from Bitola, who used it to cut and mark timber without any check on its origin. No delivery note was issued for transport to the warehouse. The man from Bitola has been charged with theft.

The scheme came to light on 26 September, when officers from the Ohrid sector stopped the haulier near the village of Crvena Voda. His Scania truck with Bitola plates was carrying 14 cubic metres of oak firewood, without a single document. The wood was confiscated and handed over to "Galichica".

Almost a full month passed between the stop and the charges. And in this scheme, according to the complaint, nobody had to steal the stamp - it was handed over by the man responsible for checking the transport. When the inspector himself passes over the hammer, what are all those paper controls worth?

Plachkovica: twelve hours hunting timber thieves

The day before the "Galichica" charges came out, on the 23 October public holiday, police together with the Forest Police spent twelve hours, from 4 am to 4 pm, checking the roads toward Plachkovica and the land around villages near Shtip. In Kalauzlija a Ford carrying firewood with no documents was stopped. On the land of Kuchica an abandoned Mitsubishi loaded with firewood was found, and at another location on Kuchica land, more stored wood. In a yard in Radanje, unstamped wood from illegal felling was found, confiscated and handed to the foresters in Shtip.

The authorities promise the operations will continue and that no region will be left at the mercy of timber thieves. Sounds nice. But if the Ohrid charges are proven, timber thieves don't even need to hide in the forest - it's enough to have a friend in the office that is supposed to control the felling.