Interpol crackdown on illegal mining, logging and wildlife trafficking leads to 233 arrests

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — An international crackdown on environmental crime across Latin America and the Caribbean led to 233 arrests and uncovered links between large-scale Amazon deforestation and companies across several continents, the international police organization Interpol said Wednesday. The two-month operation targeted illegal logging, gold mining and wildlife trafficking across nine countries, identifying some 60,000 hectares (148,000 acres) of illegally cleared forest — an area 10 times the size of Manhattan Island. But investigators increasingly focused beyond the people cutting trees, mining gold or trafficking animals to the companies, financial networks and international buyers suspected of profiting from environmental destruction.

In one investigation originating in Colombia, authorities had identified 11 foreign companies suspected of involvement in clearing more than 52,000 hectares (128,500 acres) of protected Amazon forest. Interpol said intelligence gathered during the latest operation uncovered links to another 161 companies and 65 people across several continents. Investigators found suspected permit fraud and the alleged use of shell companies and foreign investment mechanisms, Interpol said.

Colombian authorities arrested 16 people and seized digital evidence, while Interpol issued international notices seeking information or action involving suspects linked to the network. “Following the money, whether from an illegal gold mine in Panama to a buyer in North America, Europe or Asia, helps a case move beyond the individuals physically harvesting the timber, handling the animal or extracting the gold,” Krandall Gullock, head of Interpol’s Regional Bureau for Central America, said in a statement. Illegal gold mining fuels deforestation and pollution Environmental crime has become increasingly intertwined with organized crime across Latin America, particularly in remote forest regions where illegal mining, logging and wildlife trafficking can exploit the same routes and financial networks used for other illicit commodities.

Gold is particularly attractive to criminal groups because of its high value, portability and ease of sale. Illegal mining has expanded across parts of the Amazon as gold prices have risen, driving deforestation and contaminating rivers with mercury and other toxic substances. In August, The Associated Press accompan…