Amazon crackdown nets 839 arrests in five-country anti-crime operation

Bogota,UPDATED: Aug 5, 2026 00:20 IST

Police from five Amazon countries have arrested hundreds of people and seized timber, minerals and thousands of livestock in one of the largest coordinated crackdowns on environmental crime in the Amazon rainforest.

Authorities from Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru said Operation Green Shield 2026 ran from July 15 to 31 and involved more than 3,600 officers. The operation targeted illegal mining, logging, wildlife trafficking, fuel smuggling and land grabbing across the Amazon Basin.

Officials said the operation led to 839 arrests during 1,045 field actions. They seized more than 280,000 cubic metres of illegally harvested timber, along with 195 metric tonnes of minerals and equipment used in illegal mining, including gold, carbon, iron and copper. The combined value of the goods seized was put at more than USD 280 million.

Authorities also rescued more than 3,000 live animals and recovered at least 430 dead animals linked to wildlife trafficking, including snakes, birds, lizards and fish. Officials said environmental crime had become one of the Amazon's most profitable illegal industries, driven by global demand for gold, timber and wildlife.

Investigators said the same criminal groups often combine illegal mining, logging and wildlife trafficking, using shared smuggling routes and financial networks that cross national borders. Officials said this had made cross-border cooperation increasingly important, as such groups frequently move people and goods across neighbouring countries to avoid law enforcement.

The operation was coordinated from Bogota by the Initiative of Law Enforcement for Climate, or I2LEC, a United Arab Emirates-backed initiative launched with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime in 2023 to strengthen international cooperation against environmental crime. It followed a similar multinational operation in 2025 involving more than 1,500 officers from Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. This year's operation expanded to include Bolivia and involved synchronised deployments in remote border and river regions, authorities said.

"The UAE leadership firmly believes that collaboration is essential to combating transnational crime," Col Dana Humaid, director general of the Affairs Bureau at the UAE Ministry of Interior, said in a statement. "By working together, law enforcement agencies can achieve stronger results." Colombian Police Director Gen William Oswaldo Rincon Zambrano said the operation showed how intelligence sharing could be turned into coordinated enforcement. "Protecting our natural resources requires a shared response," he said. Peruvian police environmental chief Gen J Manuel Cruz Chamba said environmental crimes "do not respect borders" and therefore required international cooperation.

The crackdown brought together five countries in a coordinated push against illegal mining, logging, wildlife trafficking, fuel smuggling and land grabbing, with authorities saying the scale of the seizures and arrests showed the importance of acting together across borders.

With PTI Inputs

- Ends