Federal Police Makes Largest Seizure of Wood in History of Brazil

Named Handroanthus GLO, the operation retained 131,100 cubic meters of logs extracted in western Pará

A Federal Police operation on the border between Pará and Amazonas culminated in the largest seizure of native wood in Brazil's history. Over the past few days, agents have retained 131,100 m3 of logs, enough to build 2,620 low-income houses.

The 43,700 logs are spread over several terraces (wooden patios) along the Mamuru and Arapiuns rivers, a region of 20,000 km2, a size comparable to Sergipe.

Handroanthus GLO Operation Foto:Polícia Federal/Divulgação - Polícia Federal/Divulgação


The seizure calculation is preliminary and considered conservative by the PF. There will be a more refined expertise in the coming days with the support of the Army, within the framework of Operation Verde Brasil 2. The Federal Public Ministry monitors the operation through the Attorney general Leonardo Galiano's, who will visit the region this week.

"It is an area that was undergoing irrational devastation, which in no way can be called forest management," says the PF superintendent in Amazonas, Alexandre Saraiva, commander of the operation. "The illegal timber trade will suffer a huge blow with this job."

The seizure record had occurred in 2010, when around 65 thousand m3 were seized in the Renascer Extractive Reserve (Resex), also in western Pará. The volume is half of what was retained last week.

Translated by Kiratiana Freelon

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