The "mining mafia" laundered 13 tons of gold extracted from the Amazon in Brazil

Google translation:

02-15-2023 14:09 - BETWEEN 2021 AND 2022
The "mining mafia" laundered 13 tons of gold extracted from the Amazon in Brazil

This was detected by Operation Sisaque, ordered by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva against the garimpeiros who are the ones who illegally extract this mineral from indigenous reserves and protected territories to send it to the market in the United States, Italy, Switzerland, China and the United Arab Emirates.

BY PABLO GIULIANO, CORRESPONDENT IN BRAZIL
02-15-2023 | 2:09 P.M.

The Brazilian Federal Police launched this Wednesday a mega-operation against a mining mafia organization that illegally extracted gold from indigenous reserves and protected territories of the Amazon jungle and introduced it into the legal market destined for the United States, Italy, Switzerland, China and the United Arab Emirates, in a fraud for 4,000 million reais (about 800 million dollars) that occurred between 2021 and 2022.

The amount of the illegal mineral "reheated" in the legal market to be used in jewelry in other countries was estimated at 13 tons of gold, according to a statement from the force.

The procedure occurs in the midst of an operation ordered by the government of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva against the garimpeiros, as those who carry out illegal artisanal mining are called, on the Yanomami indigenous land located in the Amazonian state of Roraima, where mercury in the rivers and environmental destruction caused a calamity of malaria and famine in the villages, with the calculation of more than 500 children died from malnutrition.

The justice blocked 2,000 million reais (about 400 million dollars) from those suspected of introducing the illegal gold market into the international commercial circuit.

The operation against illegal mining
The operation called "Sisaque" launched three arrest warrants against those responsible for this criminal network and 27 authorizations for raids in São Paulo, Brasilia, Rio de Janeiro, Pará, Amazonas, Goiania, Roraima and Mato Grosso.

"More than 100 federal police officers participate in Operation Sisaque, in addition to five tax auditors and three Federal Revenue analysts. The objectives are to increase the volume of evidence to dismantle the criminal scheme and combat clandestine mining, especially in the Itaituba region ( state of Pará)," the statement said.

The investigation showed that this gold extracted from the Amazon was exported mainly through a company based in the United States that resold it to Hong Kong, United Arab Emirates,
According to the Escolhas Institute, an entity that investigates illegal mining in the Amazon region, it is estimated that one third of the gold produced in Brazil is the product of criminal actions.

Former President Jair Bolsonaro was accused by Lula of instigating an indigenous "genocide" by allowing the garimpeiros to enter the Yanomami lands. For this reason, the health emergency was established in the state of Roraima, while the garimpeiros are leaving indigenous lands in the face of the advance of the Navy and the Brazilian Institute of the Environment (Ibama).

The Air Force closed the airspace of the Yanomami land, the size of the Argentine province of Chaco, to prevent the entry of planes to the more than 30 clandestine airstrips mounted in recent years by the garimpeiros, whose activity was publicly defended by former President Bolsonaro.

Planes, ships and clandestine port facilities are being set on fire by federal government agents who are working against the gold diggers and the illegal industry. On the other hand, the National Mining Agency, which regulates the activity of companies, declared that the budget cut suffered in 2022 during the Bolsonaro government prevented the expansion of inspection. In the last ten years the budget has been reduced by 50%, the comptroller said.

The Central Bank, led by the Bolsonaro member Robero Campos Neto, with a mandate until the end of 2023, announced that it is studying new measures to increase supervision in the gold market and prevent it from coming from illegal mining centers.

https://www.telam.com.ar/notas/202302/620149-mineria-ilegal-toneladas-oro--amazonia-brasil.html