"Forest Mafia robs Gramoz"
17/01/2013 19:45

“Forest mafia robbing Gramoz”. This was the main title of the Greek daily newspaper, “Ta Nea”, reporting illegal deforestation in Greek land by Albanian organized groups.

According to this newspaper, the electric saws are heard each morning up to the Trilofo village, 1.5 km from the Albanian border, and the trees disappear each day.

Most of the trees are 30-year-old and were cut to the roots. The trunks are transported with animals in Albania, where there are sites that select the lumber.

The wood is then sent to Italy to build wine barrels, electricity poles and heating wood for Greece, where natural gas and oil prices skyrocketed recently.

According to the vicegovernor of Kostur, Dhimitris Savopulos, these mafia groups have deforested more than 300 hectares, which mounts up to 35.000 cubic meters of lumber.

“Ta Nea” also notes that the Greek and Albanian illegal merchants cooperate with each other and have even divided the working areas in the Gramoz Mountain.

According to the report, the main cause for this phenomenon is the absence of military bases that were shut down by the Greek government.