Group encouraged invasion of territory with a thousand Indigenous People in Rondônia, says Federal Police

By Jadson Lima – From Cenarium

MANAUS (AM) – A Federal Police (PF) operation, conducted this Thursday, the 2nd, targeted a group under investigation for land grabbing in the Igarapé Lage Indigenous Territory (IT), located between the municipalities of Nova Mamoré and Guajará-Mirim, in Rondônia. The action, which had the support of agents from the National Foundation of Indigenous Peoples (Funai) and the Brazilian Institute for the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (Ibama), carried out the removal of invaders from within the IT.

In addition to the field operation, federal agents executed five search and seizure warrants at addresses in the capital of Rondônia, Porto Velho, and in the municipalities of Guajará-Mirim and Nova Mamoré. According to the PF, the targets are suspected of dividing a 20-kilometre area into 100 plots for the illegal sale of land, as indigenous lands are the property of the Union and for the exclusive use of indigenous peoples.

Investigations into the suspected crimes indicated that two individuals under investigation, whose names were not disclosed by the PF, presented themselves as an engineer and a lawyer and encouraged people to invade the area demarcated by the federal government since 1981. The team participating in the operation this Thursday also carried out the destruction of illegal structures, such as bridges.

Attack on Indigenous People

In August last year, indigenous people of the Oro Nao ethnicity reported an attack within the Igarapé Lage IT to the authorities. According to the complaint, seven armed and hooded men invaded a village on the night of the 11th, setting fire to homes and vehicles. They demanded the indigenous people leave the area.

Records from the time show that the suspects set fire to a house and a motorcycle. In a statement this Thursday, the PF confirmed the incident recorded more than seven months ago. “Since the end of 2022, more than 800 hectares have been deforested, and there have been illegal burnings, as well as an attack on an indigenous family in which their home was set on fire,” the agency stated in a passage.

Other Operations in the TI

According to the PF, around eight operations were carried out in 2024 against crimes committed in the Igarapé Lage IT, involving hundreds of federal agents from various agencies. One of the actions was recorded between the 16th and 17th of May, when authorities revealed that the invaders had deforested an area equivalent to more than a thousand football fields.

In a statement at the time, the agency revealed that the 20-kilometre-long corridor was used to facilitate the transport of illegal timber, as well as to help invaders gain access to the area. The operation found several points of illegal logging covering approximately 840 hectares, as well as houses.

Edited by Izaías Godinho
Translated from Portuguese by Gustô Alves