In the agencies biggest seizure of the year, the State Secretariat for the Environment and Sustainability (SEMAS) of Pará closed eight alleged illegal loggers and seized 3,453 cubic meters of logs, an amount that could fill about 164 truckloads.

The operation, called Operação Embaúba began on September 24 in the municipality of Nova Esperança do Piriá, with a focus on illegal logging in the neighboring Alto Rio Guamá Indigenous Land. (See the following alert from the Timber Risk Map posted September 25:)

Eight sawmills dismantled in Nova Esperança do Piriá

16 terms of seizure and deposit were drawn up for seized machinery and logs. Authorities also seized machinery for sawing wood, as well as two tractors and two trailers. The logs are in possession of the prefecture of Capitão Poço.

Embaúba was part of the larger Verde Brasil II operation occurring throughout the Brazilian Amazon and coordinated by the Ministry of Defense. Almost 14,000 cubic meters of illegal wood were confiscated during the first phase of the Verde Brasil II.

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