April 25, 2019 - 9:02 AM
SAO PAULO - Brazil's federal police say they have begun dismantling a multistate scheme to illegally harvest timber in the country's Amazon region.
Police said in a Thursday statement that arrest, search and seizure warrants have been issued in nine states and that more than $12 million in the assets of timber companies have been frozen.
Police said the scheme involves state environmental agency officials and forest engineers, but did not identify those under investigation.
Further details were not immediately available.
Data from the University of Maryland show tropical forests around the globe lost 15.8 million hectares (39 million acres) of tree cover in 2017. Losses in Brazil, home to most of the Amazon rainforest, made up nearly 30% of the total — more than losses in any other single country.
News from © The Associated Press, 2019