Authorities from five Amazon countries have launched a massive crackdown on environmental crime, arresting hundreds of people and seizing vast quantities of illicit goods. The operation, dubbed ‘Operation Green Shield 2026,’ was a coordinated effort by police forces from Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru to tackle the growing menace of environmental crime in the Amazon Basin.
A Major Crackdown on Environmental Crime
Between July 15 and 31, over 3,600 officers were deployed across the Amazon Basin to target illegal mining, logging, wildlife trafficking, fuel smuggling, and land grabbing – the illegal seizure or occupation of land, often followed by forest clearing. The operation resulted in a staggering 839 arrests during 1,045 field actions, making it one of the largest coordinated crackdowns on environmental crime ever carried out in the world’s largest rainforest.
According to officials, the seized goods included over 280,000 cubic meters (9.9 million cubic feet) of illegally harvested timber – enough to fill roughly 110 Olympic-sized swimming pools – along with 195 metric tons of minerals and equipment used in illegal mining like gold, carbon, iron, and copper. Authorities also rescued more than 3,000 live animals and recovered at least 430 dead animals linked to wildlife trafficking, including snakes, birds, lizards, and fish.
A Growing Threat to the Amazon
Environmental crime has become one of the Amazon’s most profitable illicit industries, fueled by global demand for gold, timber, and wildlife. Investigators say the same criminal organizations often combine illegal mining, logging, and wildlife trafficking, using shared trafficking routes and financial networks that span national borders. This has made cross-border cooperation increasingly important, as criminal groups frequently move people and goods across neighboring countries to evade law enforcement.
The operation was coordinated from Colombian capital, Bogota, by the International Initiative of Law Enforcement for Climate (I2LEC), a United Arab Emirates-backed initiative launched in partnership with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime in 2023 to strengthen international cooperation against environmental crime.
A Major Success for Cross-Border Cooperation
The crackdown follows a similar multinational operation in 2025 that brought together more than 1,500 officers from Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru. That operation marked one of the first large-scale attempts to coordinate intelligence sharing and simultaneous enforcement across borders against environmental crime, reflecting growing concern that criminal groups involved in illegal mining, logging, and wildlife trafficking increasingly operate across national boundaries.
This year’s operation expanded to include Bolivia and involved synchronized deployments in remote border and river regions, authorities said. The combined value of the goods seized during the operation exceeded $280 million, making it a major success for cross-border cooperation in the fight against environmental crime.
Colombian National Police Director Gen. William Oswaldo Rincón Zambrano said the operation showed how intelligence sharing could be translated into coordinated enforcement. ‘Protecting our natural resources requires a shared response,’ he said.
Peruvian police environmental chief Gen. J. Manuel Cruz Chamba said environmental crimes ‘do not respect borders’ and therefore require international cooperation. ‘We must work together to combat the growing threat of environmental crime in the Amazon,’ he said.
