The director of the newly-created environment and Amazon department of the federal police, Humberto Freire disclosed on Tuesday that Brazil has evicted almost all illegal gold miners from the Yanomami territory, its largest indigenous reservation, and will remove miners from six more reserves this year.
According to Freire, Police are setting up new Amazon rainforest bases and are seeking international cooperation on law enforcement in the region, including the development of radio-isotope technology to prove the illegal origin of seized gold.
He said it was a new era in the battle against environmental crime and in defence of indigenous people in the rainforest.
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“We still have some pockets of miners who are holding out by hiding in some areas, so we going through the Yanomami territory with a fine comb,” Freire said in an interview.
According to him, 250 miner camps—many of which were already deserted—and 70 dredging rafts, as well as speed boats and planes, were destroyed during enforcement operations assisted by satellite imagery and aerial photography.
He noted that police had also confiscated 1.2 kg of gold and about 4,500 litres of fuel.
Story was adapted from Climate Home News
