Brazil’s federal police have seized assets related to illegal mining operations in the Amazon rainforest, as the government of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva cracks down on unsanctioned commercial activity that threatens the forest and the people who inhabit it.
In a press release on Wednesday, the federal police said they had seized more than 2 billion reais ($383m) garnered from the sale of about 13 tonnes of gold, which had been illegally extracted from the rainforest and exported through an unnamed US-based entity.
The effect of clandestine gold mining on the Amazon was brought into sharp focus when the Lula administration declared a public health emergency in January for the Yanomami Indigenous people, who suffered health defects, malnutrition and violence due to the intrusion of illegal mining activity on their lands.
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Article URL : https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/2/15/brazilian-police-seize-assets-from-illegal-amazon-gold-mining