Dozens of trees planted by the Petrila City Hall, in western Romania, were stolen the night after they were planted, Digi24.ro reported. Among them were several magnolias, leaving the local budget with damages of RON 700 (EUR 156) only for this type of tree.

The local authorities spent RON 18,000 (EUR 4,000) on the 500 trees, of diverse types such as linden trees, chestnut trees, and magnolias.

The Petrila deputy mayor, Dorin Curtean, posted a message on his Facebook page, urging the thieves to return the stolen trees. Although he doesn’t expect the thieves to necessarily have a Facebook account, the deputy mayor says this is a way to reach them and make them understand that theft leads to legal consequences.

“I want to tell the thieves they were filmed by the surveillance cameras when they weren’t expecting it. I invite them to come willingly with the trees at the city hall, otherwise we will file a legal complaint for theft […] You should be ashamed of yourselves. You do no like having a clean and beautiful city,” the deputy mayor said in his Facebook message.

Sixty surveillance cameras are in use in Petrila, helping the police, which is currently investigating the case.

Petrila is a Romanian town located in the Jiului Valey, in Hunedoara county, in Western Romania. Valea Jiului used to be an important coal mining site in the country but most of the mines in the area have been closed down after 1989.

editor@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: Wikipedia)