Greek authorities said Tuesday they seized 13,000 tonnes of illegally cut wood last year as Greeks increasingly ravage forests to heat their homes amid a rise in taxes on fuel oil in their debt-strapped country.

"During the year 2012, the authorities seized a total of 13,088 tonnes of wood cut illegally, 425 vehicles which transported them and 426 tools used for this purpose," the environment ministry said in a statement.

The ministry said 3,105 complaints for illegal wood cutting were filed, with most in the northern region of Macedonia-Thrace, where temperatures fall to around zero degrees Celsius (32 degrees Fahrenheit) in winter.

Further hitting households already reeling from three years of austerity measures, the Greek authorities brought taxes on fuel oil into line with those on gasoline in a bid to fill state coffers.