The Ministry of the Environment has filed a criminal complaint with the Prosecutor’s Office attached to the High Court of Cassation and Justice, following the vandalism of nine cameras in the National Video Monitoring System for Forest Roads, funded through the PNRR, and has ordered increased inspections in the affected areas, the minister in charge, Diana Buzoianu, announced on Tuesday.

“The Ministry of the Environment has forwarded the criminal complaint to the prosecutor’s offices attached to the High Court of Cassation and Justice regarding the vandalized cameras in the National CCTV System (closed-circuit video surveillance system, ed.), which we are currently implementing through the PNRR for forest roads, to monitor forest roads. This is a system intended to have approximately 350 monitoring points throughout the country so that, when trucks loaded with timber pass by, they are automatically checked using artificial intelligence, and alarms are triggered if it turns out that those trucks did not have the necessary permits and the timber in question is suspected of being illegally harvested,” Diana Buzoianu stated during a press conference.

According to her, “over 330 monitoring points” have already been set up, with the rest to be implemented by the end of June.

“This is a project that was supposed to be completed through the PNRR by August at the latest, but we will implement and complete it much sooner than August. This is absolutely concerning, and while these are certainly isolated cases, we’re talking about 9 points that have been vandalized. Some of them are simply points where the cameras were moved so that the actual road could no longer be monitored. We even had a case where a camera was turned away while a truck loaded with wood was waiting, and then, after the camera was turned away, the truck drove off. We also had, if I’m not mistaken, three cases where cameras were painted over and several cases where cameras had their cables cut and were stolen entirely,” Buzoianu added.

According to the minister, the destruction of the cameras indicates possible illegal activities, which is why inspections have been stepped up and a criminal complaint has been filed.

‘This is, however, an important signal from the Ministry of the Environment. Where criminals imagine there will be no consequences, where criminals imagine that by disabling these cameras they have remained anonymous and invisible to the law, we will step up inspections, because in parallel with the criminal complaint we filed with the Prosecutor’s Office attached to the High Court of Cassation and Justice, we sent a very clear message and requested much stricter monitoring in those areas. “It is very clear that there is currently a legitimate assumption that where there is a direct interest in disabling these cameras, there is a direct interest because illegal activities are taking place—and so, even as we speak, inspections are underway in several counties,” the official added.

According to her, the vandalized cameras are located in the counties of Suceava, Neamț, Prahova, and Maramureș, and the Ministry of the Environment has announced intensified monitoring and control measures in those areas.

‘We are talking about cameras that have been vandalized in the counties of Suceava, Neamț, Prahova, and Maramureș. At the moment, the national team is in Maramureș, but at the same time, activities are taking place everywhere this week, and in the places where these cameras were vandalized, much more intensive monitoring measures will be taken for an extended period of time. “We’re talking about a project funded by European funds—the installation of the cameras, the 350 monitoring points,” added Buzoianu.

She believes the acts of vandalism are intended to intimidate and has announced increased patrols in areas where the surveillance cameras were destroyed.

‘Out of 330 camera locations, nine have been destroyed, so we’re not yet talking about a nationwide phenomenon, but we are talking about a worrying sign. We believe these acts were carried out with the intent to intimidate, and the Ministry of the Environment’s message is very clear: we will not be intimidated; on the contrary, we will intensify inspections there because there are clearly legitimate suspicions at this time that illegal activities are taking place in those areas. And we will bring these illegalities to light,” she added.

Source: AGERPRES