In recent weeks, Brazilian environmental agents closed nearly a dozen sawmills and seized the equivalent of more than 5,000 truckloads of timber in an operation to target illegal logging in regions of the Amazon rainforest, Reuters reported.
The raids are part of Operation Maravalha, led by environmental protection agency Ibama, aimed at curbing illegal logging in protected areas that have some of the country's highest deforestation rates. The government expects the operation to be the largest of its kind in over five years.
During the raid, investigators also issued 15.5 million reais ($2.7 million USD) in fines, and they plan to audit timber projects in private lands suspected of defrauding government documentation to hide the real origin of timber obtained illegally.
