Brazil Launches Vast Anti-Crime Operation to Battle Illegal Logging

More than 8,500 troops have been dispatched in a large area of the Amazon to tackle illegal logging, as well as drug trafficking and illegal mining, according to BBC.

The Brazilian armed forces are patrolling an area 3,100 miles wide along the country's northern border. The operation is "aimed at combating crime and reinforcing the presence of the Brazilian government in the border region, one of the most remote areas of our territory," General Jose Carlos De Nardi told BBC.

Taking part in the operation are police, army, air force and navy forces. The armed forces will search for instances of illegal logging in indigenous lands, and it will hunt for illicit landing strips used by traffickers to move illegal goods. This is the fourth such anti-crime operation in Brazil this year.