Amazon Environmental Crime Crackdown Nets 839 Arrests in Five Country Operation

Police from Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru have arrested 839 people in one of the largest coordinated operations against environmental crime ever carried out in the Amazon rainforest. Operation Green Shield 2026, held from July 15 to July 31, brought together more than 3,600 officers from the five countries to target illegal mining, logging, wildlife trafficking, fuel smuggling and land grabbing across the Amazon Basin.

Authorities carried out 1,045 operations during the two week campaign. They seized more than 280,000 cubic metres of illegally cut timber, 195 metric tonnes of minerals and equipment used in illegal mining. Officials said the total value of the seized goods exceeded USD 280 million.

Police also rescued more than 3,000 live animals and recovered at least 430 dead animals, including snakes, birds, lizards and fish linked to wildlife trafficking.

The Amazon rainforest, which stretches across eight South American countries and one overseas territory, is one of the world's most important ecosystems and plays a key role in storing carbon and slowing climate change. Officials said rising global gold prices have helped fuel illegal mining, while criminal groups also profit from illegal logging and wildlife trafficking. These activities destroy forests, pollute rivers with mercury and threaten Indigenous communities that depend on the rainforest for their livelihoods.

Investigators said the same criminal networks often run several illegal activities at once and move people and goods across neighbouring countries when enforcement increases in one area. That has made closer cooperation between Amazon nations more important than ever.

The operation was coordinated from Bogota under the International Initiative of Law Enforcement for Climate (I2LEC), a programme backed by the United Arab Emirates and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. It expanded on a similar 2025 campaign that involved more than 1,500 officers from four countries. This year's operation added Bolivia and more than doubled the number of officers involved.

Colombian National Police Director Gen William Oswaldo Rincon Zambrano said intelligence sharing had helped turn information into coordinated action. Peruvian environmental police chief Gen J Manuel Cruz Chamba said environmental crimes "do not respect borders," making international cooperation essential. UAE official Col Dana Humaid said collaboration between countries is key to tackling transnational environmental crime.