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

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🗞️ Driving the news: Interpol’s two-month Operation Madre Tierra VIII led to 233 arrests across nine Latin American and Caribbean countries, targeting illegal logging, gold mining and wildlife trafficking
• Investigators also identified links between Amazon deforestation and international companies, financial networks and buyers

🔭 The context: The operation uncovered around 60,000 hectares of illegally cleared forest
• In Colombia, investigators linked 11 foreign companies to the clearing of more than 52,000 hectares of protected Amazon forest and found connections to another 161 companies and 65 individuals across several continents
• Authorities also seized large quantities of cyanide and mercury used in illegal gold extraction

🌍 Why it matters for the planet: Illegal mining and logging accelerate deforestation, while mercury and cyanide contaminate rivers and ecosystems
• Wildlife trafficking further compounds biodiversity loss, particularly in already vulnerable Amazonian habitats

⏭️ What’s next: Interpol and national authorities are increasingly following the money behind environmental crimes rather than focusing only on people directly extracting resources
• More than 1,000 live animals were recovered, while authorities also seized 165 kg of dried shark fins

💬 One quote: “Following the money … helps a case move beyond the individuals physically harvesting the timber, handling the animal or extracting the gold,” said Krandall Gullock, head of Interpol’s Regional Bureau for Central America

📈 One stat: 60,000 hectares of illegally cleared forest were identified — roughly 10 times the area of Manhattan

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