“They leave desolation behind them”: wood thieves have been targeting, since the start of the year, plots where century-old oaks flourished, causing significant moral and financial damage in the Meuse, where these facts are new.
The theft of woodhas existed since the dawn of time“, recalls François Godinot, president of the Union of Forest Owners of the Meuse (Fransylva 55). It can come from an operator who exceeds “to the right, to the left of its plot“or be characterized by a theft of already cut logs.”We know how to handle that“, he sweeps away.
But these thefts of oaks, the price of which is high, are “much more serious” et “new“in the department: concretely,”informers notice that such a plot is quite discreetly placed“, not too far from the national road, with “beautiful oaks“, and in one or two days, these trees, often centuries old, are cut down and taken away. Small private plots are the most popular, according to him. There are more than 20,000 owners in the Meuse.
This is what happened to Eric Berton, in the Louppy-le-Château area. This forest owner was informed, at the end of March, by a representative of the Meuse Chamber of Agriculture that his plot had been pillaged. Without his permission, obviously.
The criminals”had the goal of collecting as many logs as possible by going in a straight line“, he explains. In and around his plot, there were many oak trees, which were targeted by the thugs.
“Organized gang”?
“They acted as an organized gang, that's for sure“, thinks the forest owner, who underlines the immensity of the task to be accomplished: “Not only do you have to cut it, but you also have to top the tree: it doesn't take five minutes!“
According to him, although most of the thefts took place last winter, when the forest was less busy, the “looters“did everything to be discreet: they”had to take out the wood as it came, loaded it onto a truck, and the shipment was done immediately“, he believes.
The loss is first of all financial. Mr. Berton estimates his losses at “5.000, 6.000 euros“, more “plot neighbors lost double“at least,” he emphasizes.
But it is also “a heartbreak” by Eric Berton. “Those that were felled were oaks that were between 120 and 150 years old.“, he regrets.
It is also necessary to restore the land, which the criminals have damaged, by making deep holes with their machines, which have not been filled in and “today penalize the regeneration of the forest as it should be done“. “They have no scruples“, he curses. “They leave desolation behind“, summarizes Mr. Godinot.
“Complex” investigation
In mid-September, seven procedures linked to complaints of wood theft were recorded at the Commercy gendarmerie company, Bar-le-Duc public prosecutor Sofian Saboulard told AFP.
More “at this stage of the investigations, no element confirms the thesis (…) of an organized gang or mafia networks“, specifies the magistrate, who explains that the “almost all procedures“bears on”illegal logging carried out in excess of the limits of the plots initially authorized to the companies” logging or cutting wood.
However, in Louppy-le-Château, a procedure identifying five victims “is linked to an act of theft in the literal sense of the term“, Or “no authorization or contract would have been issued by the victims“to businesses”not identified to date” who felled and carried away trees.
The Commercy Research Brigade is investigating these facts.causing significant economic damage“, recalls the prosecutor.
Investigations are continuing, he added. They are “complexes“, “the different procedures do not all present objective elements allowing an obvious link to be made“. Furthermore, “testimonies and technical and scientific police evidence are rare on this type of case“.
The Meuse Chamber of Agriculture has called on local residents to be vigilant, to take vehicle registration plates and to take photos. Help “precious“which could enable the establishment of”a surveillance network“.
