Raid seizes 432 wood logs on Brazil-Peru border

A joint raid led to the seizure of a balsa carrying 432 wood logs on the Brazil-Peru border. The crackdown was conducted on the Javari river, in Atalaia do Norte, Amazonas state.

The raid was part of Operation Javari, which fights biodiversity trafficking on the national borders shared by Brazil, Colombia, and Peru, where wood and ornamental fishes are often smuggled, according to the Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (IBAMA), which took part in the raid alongside the Army, the National Indian Foundation (FUNAI), as well as the Federal Police and the Environmental Battalion of the Military Police of  Amazonas.

The logs seized arrived today (15) in the town of Benjamin Constant, also in Amazonas, and will be stored by the Army before they are donated.

Cedar

A Peruvian transporting wood was approached by an agent and showed sloppy documentation concerning the source of the cargo. The foreigner had no receipt and was given a $42.3 thousand fine.

The load included logs of cedar, which is listed in the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). For this reason, a special transit license is required.

According to FUNAI, part of the logs was illegally extracted in Brazilian territory, in the Vale do Javari indigenous area, the country's second largest, with 8.5 million hectares.

Translated by Fabrício Ferreira