You're reading: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty: Illegal amber digging lays waste to Ukrainian forest (VIDEO)

Industrial-scale mining is causing devastation to swathes of forest in western Ukraine. The country's interior ministry says the business is controlled by criminal gangs that make up to $500 million a year. Despite the fact that the activity is illegal, the gangs carry out their work quite openly. The police say they don't have the resources to stop it – but activists say local officials have been paid off.

Watch the video here.