26 people arrested in crackdown on illegal deforestation along Paraguay, Brazil and Argentina border

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Paraguayan authorities arrested 26 people in a crackdown on suspected illegal deforestation along the country's border with Brazil and Argentina, Interpol announced Monday.

Fourteen different agencies collaborated in the mid-October sweep, which relied on border inspections, waterway surveillance and aerial monitoring of forests. Some 1,000 logs were seized, including some quebracho wood, prized for its density and high tannin content, Interpol said.

Interpol said 12 companies were involved in the alleged deforestation and trafficking of native tree species, and that it identified two criminal networks. A spokesman said alleged crimes include illegal logging of various tree species, illicit trafficking of timber, use of fake documents to traffic in illegal wood, and various acts of deforestation. He said the delay in announcing the arrests was in part to allow for follow-up investigation.

“Illegal deforestation encompasses a broad spectrum of criminal activities, from document fraud to money laundering and corruption," said Kat Henn, Interpol’s assistant director of environmental security. "This operation highlights the urgent need for continued multi-agency and sustained cross-border cooperation to tackle the criminal networks devastating our environment for profit.”

Interpol has been boosting its presence in what's called the Tri-Border area for years. The agency has said the area — with two rivers separating the states and creating many entry points — is “conducive to a wide range of illegal activities.”

“ Organized crime is increasingly making forested areas their hub of operations — not just for the cover but to illegally extract flora, fauna and mineral resources,” Gimena Sanchez, a human rights advocate at the Washington Office on Latin America, told The Associated Press.

Fighting deforestation in South America “means fighting sophisticated transnational organized crime networks,” she added.

Deforestation typically results from land being converted to raise cattle or soybeans, as well as logging or mining. It leads to a slew of negative environmental impacts, including erosion, biodiversity loss, and increased risk of flooding, as well as the loss of a valuable carbon sink. Though some progress has been made in recent years to slow deforestation, especially in Brazil and Colombia, Latin America lost 138 million hectares (about 341 million acres) of forest between 1990 and 2020, according to a United Nations report.

Gabriel Funari, head of the Amazon Observatory of Illicit Economies for Global Initiative, said they are seeing large transnational criminal groups that have grown through drug trafficking revenue, such as one of Brazil’s largest crime gangs, Primeiro Comando da Capital — commonly known as PCC — increasingly diversifying their investment portfolios into various illicit markets with goods that pass through the Tri-Border, like firearms, timber, wildlife and gold.

In Latin America, the direct environmental harms caused by drug trafficking are much smaller than those from perceived legal industries like cattle ranching and industrial agriculture, says Bram Ebus, a consultant for Crisis Group in Latin America.

“Nevertheless, it is the drug money that is laundered through these economic activities that finances and accelerates deforestation,” he said.

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