Brazil police caught in million-dollar Amazon gold scheme - what happened?
Two high-ranking police officers got caught helping illegal gold miners in Amazonʼs protected areas. The scandal exposed a huge network of corruption involving dozens of officers and billion-dollar gold trading
In a shocking turn-of-events Brazilian authorities nabbed two senior police-officers who were giving protection to illegal gold-mining operations in Amazon (a case that shows how deep corruption goes in the region)
The arrested officers from Para stateʼs military-police didnt just ignore the illegal activities: they provided full-scale security for gold trading operations that targeted protected Indigenous territories. About 36 fellow-officers lost their positions due to connections with this scheme; investigators found fancy cars jewelry and gold during raids
The illegal operation centered around the Munduruku peoples land - an area as big as Switzerland where miners shouldnt be allowed: the mining company Gana Gold made over 1.1 billion reais in just two years through these activities. Its worth noting that more than 50% of Brazils gold exports come from non-legal sources
Police found secret landing-strips and mining spots near Munduruku territory during their early-Nov operation. The investigation showed that the criminal group used these spots to move gold from indigenous lands; authorities seized phones expensive items and an unknown amount of precious metals during the raids
The police took action against Gana Golds businessmen too - putting two of them in jail. Para states police department quickly fired all officers with command roles who were involved in this mess (showing how serious they are about cleaning up the force)
