Environment Ministry Officials Among 30 Arrested for Illegal Timber Sales in Brazil

摘要

Rio de janeiro—Brazilian federal police and environmental agents June 9 arrested 30 individuals charged with selling and using false transport permits to bring illegally cut Amazon timber to local and foreign markets, an enforcement official told BNA BNA June 12.rnThe operation, dubbed "New Confrontation," was the biggest bust of its kind this year and involved 300 law enforcement officials who made arrests in five Amazon states. Most of the arrests were made in the western Amazon state of Acre, where 24 loggers, enforcement agents, and intermediaries were apprehended, Rubens Amador, an official with IBAMA, the enforcement arm of the Environment Ministry, told BNA. Arrest warrants have been issued for 44 other individuals.