Five Amazon countries arrest hundreds in major crackdown on
environmental crime
[August 05, 2026]
By STEVEN GRATTAN
BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — 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 ever carried out in the world’s largest rainforest.
Authorities from Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru said
Tuesday that Operation Green Shield 2026, which ran from July 15-31,
deployed more than 3,600 officers targeting illegal mining, logging,
wildlife trafficking, fuel smuggling and land grabbing — the illegal
seizure or occupation of land, often followed by forest clearing —
across the Amazon Basin.
The operation resulted in 839 arrests during 1,045 field actions and the
seizure of more than 280,000 cubic meters (9.9 million cubic feet) of
illegally harvested timber — enough to fill roughly 110 Olympic-sized
swimming pools — along with 195 metric tons of minerals and equipment
used in illegal mining like gold, carbon, iron and copper, according to
officials. 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.
Environmental crime has become one of the Amazon’s most profitable
illicit industries, fueled by global demand for gold, timber and
wildlife. Investigators say the same criminal organizations often
combine illegal mining, logging and wildlife trafficking, using shared
trafficking routes and financial networks that span national borders.
Officials say that has made cross-border cooperation increasingly
important, as criminal groups frequently move people and goods across
neighboring countries to evade law enforcement.
The operation was coordinated from Colombian capital, Bogota, by the
International Initiative of Law Enforcement for Climate, or I2LEC, a
United Arab Emirates-backed initiative launched in partnership with the
United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime in 2023 to strengthen
international cooperation against environmental crime.
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Visible deforestation from illegal mining surrounds the Quito River,
near Paimado, Colombia, Sept. 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Ivan Valencia,
File)
The crackdown follows a similar multinational operation in 2025 that
brought together more than 1,500 officers from Brazil, Colombia,
Ecuador and Peru. That operation marked one of the first large-scale
attempts to coordinate intelligence sharing and simultaneous
enforcement across borders against environmental crime, reflecting
growing concern that criminal groups involved in illegal mining,
logging and wildlife trafficking increasingly operate across
national boundaries.
This year’s operation expanded to include Bolivia and involved
synchronized 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 International Affairs Bureau at the UAE Ministry of
Interior, said in a statement. “By working together, law enforcement
agencies can achieve stronger results.”
Officials said the combined value of the goods seized during the
operation exceeded $280 million.
Colombian National Police Director Gen. William Oswaldo Rincón
Zambrano said the operation showed how intelligence sharing could be
translated 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 require
international cooperation.
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