Brazil Arrests Greatest Destroyers of the Amazon Rainforest
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Photo Credit: Mongabay.com
On August 28, Brazilian police has arrested six members of a criminal organization who are involved in the illegal deforestation of large portions of the Brazilian Amazon rainforest, with 14 warrants issued as the result of a joint investigation called “Operation Chestnut”. The operation is the collaboration between the Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (IBAMA), the Federal Police, the IRS, and federal prosecutors. The organization is prosecuted for invading, logging and burning areas of public land and selling them as farming and grazing allotments while the members will be accused with six offenses which could put them in prison for more than 50 years.
Brazil has one of the highest rates of deforestation in the world, losing more than 36 million hectares of forest between 2001 and 2013.
Date & Source: August 28, 2014, Mongabay.com
