In mega operation, Federal Police cracks down on illegal mining and deforestation in indigenous lands of Rondônia

Together, the three protected territories exceed 800 thousand hectares of forest, with an estimated population of almost 4 thousand individuals (Reproduction/Federal Police/RO)

Iury Lima – Cenarium Magazine

VILHENA (RO) – An operation against environmental crimes, carried out by the Federal Police (PF) and the Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (Ibama), inspected and stopped illegal activities in three Indigenous Lands (TIs) in the State of Rondônia. The action took place over five days, between May 24 and 27, and ended with the arrest of two people, the embargoing of six logging companies and the destruction of two camps used by illegal miners.

Called ‘Kaapora’, in allusion to the forest entity that protects animals and plants in the culture of native peoples, the operation aimed to dismantle a criminal group that operated in the Zoró Indigenous Lands, of the Zoró and Aripuanã peoples; Roosevelt, of the Cinta Larga, and in the Sete de Setembro territory, of the Paiter Suruí, according to the Federal Police. The scheme sustained from deforestation practices to mining prohibited in these reserve areas.

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Together, the three protected territories exceed 800,000 hectares of forest, with an estimated population of almost 4,000 individuals, according to cross data from agencies and institutions such as the National Health Foundation (Funasa) and the Kanindé Association for Ethnoenvironmental Defense.

Seven lumber companies were inspected and six of them had their activities suspended due to irregularities with the merchandise (Reproduction/Federal Police/RO)

The operation

Assessed by the Federal Police as “of great complexity and high operational risks”, the action employed 80 men, most of them members of the specialized policing: federal police officers from the Tactical Operations Command (COT), the Ready Intervention Group (GPI) and the Federal Police Aviation Command (CAV). Thus, in addition to the raid, the agents also conducted several overflights in the region, in order to identify irregularities.

“During the operation, seven logging companies were inspected in Espigão D’Oeste (RO) [541 kilometers from Porto Velho] suspected of buying and selling wood of illegal origin, and six companies had their operations suspended and two people were arrested in flagrante delicto,” reported the Federal Police.

The police also served 10 search and seizure warrants against indigenous leaders who were involved in the scheme, as well as public servants and other individuals involved in illegal mining.

The Federal Police and Ibama identified several points of deforested forest when flying over the invaded region (Reproduction/Federal Police/RO)

“During the raids and overflights several deforestation points were found with felled trees in the Zoró, Roosevelt and Sete de Setembro Indigenous Lands, two improvised campsites, three motorcycles and a car used in the internal displacement of the violators. All these means for the practice of environmental violations were rendered useless, together with Ibama, aiming to stop the continuity of criminal activities,” the organization added in a statement.

Flagrante exposed the case

Investigations have been ongoing since last year, when two people, including an indigenous man, were arrested in flagrante with about 50 grams of gold.

“After intense investigative work, the Federal Police identified a complex criminal scheme installed in the state of Rondônia, which involved indigenous leaders of the Zoró indigenous land, public servants and prospectors from Espigão do Oeste,” the PF clarified.

Seized wood was donated to city halls and state public agencies, according to the Federal Police (Reproduction/Federal Police/RO)

According to the police, “the investigations revealed that the indigenous leaders allowed the illegal extraction of gold and wood from the reserve and, in return, received a percentage of the illicit profits”.

The Federal Police also says that the public servants involved in the scheme “have been removed from their duties as a precautionary measure”. The seized wood was donated by Ibama to city halls, such as that of Rolim de Moura (RO) and other state public agencies.

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