Police to keep eye out for festive tree thieves

Chisinau police will mount a round-the-clock guard on coniferous tree sites throughout the city in the period Dec. 20 – Jan. 1 to deter tree rustlers, as instructed by Mayor Dorin Chirtoaca. The Chisinau Greenspace Agency will make available 5 patrol vehicles to the municipal police, while the district offices will take preliminary measures to protect conifer plantations in the administered districts. Greenspace Agency acting director Eliferie Haruta told Info-Prim Neo that the fines for sawing down firs, spruces, pines and other conifers growing in Chisinau will be up to 5,000 lei, depending on the species, height, diameter and age of the tree. Haruta went on to add that last year during the winter holidays no cases of tree poaching were recorded.