By Staff Reporter
A major international joint operation that included the The UAE, seized illegal items that have been valued at over $32 million, and arrested 25 suspects across the region.
The operation, named ‘Green Justice’, dealt a significant blow to organized crime groups by seizing 2.4 tonnes of illegal wildlife and fish catches, 37 illegal fishing equipment, 229 pieces of illegal mining equipment, and over 10,498 cubic meters of illegally harvested timber.
Coordinated by the International Law Enforcement for Climate Initiative (I2LEC), the regional law enforcement operation has uncovered extensive environmental crimes in the Amazon region.
The ‘Green Justice’ operation received support and participation from law enforcement agencies in Brazil, Peru, and Colombia, alongside the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime and the Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI). It primarily targeted the regional network of environmental criminal activities in the Amazon region.
The joint operation took place from June 24 to June 30, 2024, coordinated and planned by the I2LEC initiative, a UAE Ministry of Interior initiative, to gather intelligence enabling thorough investigations into transnational environmental crime networks. This tri-border corridor within the Amazon rainforest, where Colombia, Peru, and Brazil converge, has faced challenges from criminal activities like illegal goods smuggling, wildlife poaching, deforestation, and illegal mining.
The operation also resulted in the seizure of various smuggled materials used in committing these environmental crimes.
With inputs from Khaleji Times
