Employees of the National Forestry Agency [NFA] revealed 56 facts of law violations in October of this year. 53 of them are facts of illegal logging and transportation of timber.

Across the country, up to 53 cubic meters of various types of firewood and industrial timber have been seized as a result of illegal activities, which were to be stored in the "business yards" of the Forestry Agency .

Of the facts of illegal logging and transportation of timber, 19 were identified in Samegrelo - Zemo Svaneti, 9 in Kvemo Kartli, 8 in Samtskhe - Javakheti, 6 in Guria, 5 in Imereti, 3 in Shida Kartli, 2 in Mtskheta - Mtianeti and 1 in Kakheti.

In addition, 3 cases of arbitrary seizure of state forests were recorded in the Shida Kartli, Samtskhe - Javakheti and Samegrelo - Zemo Svaneti regions.

"From January 1 of this year to the present, employees of the National Forestry Agency have identified 561 cases of illegal logging and transportation of timber across the country. Modern technologies, which regional forestry services are equipped with, play an important role in the process of preventing and detecting violations. Their use makes the monitoring process more effective and contributes to the detection of facts of illegal forest use. The National Forestry Agency, in coordination with relevant agencies, will actively continue the fight against illegal forest use in the future", - said Irakli Benashvili, Deputy Head of the NFA.