The PF (Federal Police) launched an operation this Tuesday morning (14.Feb.2023) to investigate the purchase of illicit gold originating in Roraima. A Avis Aurea calculates transactions of R$ 422 million made in the last 5 years. They would be related to the financing of illegal mining in the Yanomami Indigenous Land.
The police affirms that the criminal organization has cells in at least 3 states. 13 search and seizure warrants are carried out in Roraima, São Paulo and Goiás, issued by the 4th Federal Criminal Court of the Federal Court in Roraima. The corporation did not inform the names of the targets, but said they were businessmen, lawyers and 1 public official from Boa Vista (RR).
“One of the companies suspected of participating in the scheme was already involved in a PF action that seized 111 kg of gold on a plane in Goiânia/GO”, said the corporation.
“Investigations began after an approach by the PRF [Polícia Rodoviária Federal] seize more than R$ 4 million in cash in a vehicle in the municipality of Cáceres/MT”, stated the PF. “In a police inquiry, the PF identified that the values would be just a portion, inserted in a context of successive acquisitions of gold in Roraima.”
According to the PF, part of the organization would be based in Roraima and would receive amounts from individuals and legal entities from other locations. The amount would be used to acquire gold from illegal mines.
The money for the purchase would be moved mainly by land from the Southeast and Midwest regions to Boa Vista. To transport the gold from Roraima, the group would have the support of an airline employee.
The population of the Yanomami ethnic group is experiencing a serious humanitarian crisis. Affected by the presence of illegal mining on their lands, the indigenous people of this region live with environmental destruction, water contamination, malnutrition, the spread of disease and violence. The situation is historical, but it has worsened in the last 4 years.
On Friday (Feb 10), the PF started the destruction of miners’ machines that were on Yanomami lands. The action was carried out in the context of Operation Liberation, which seeks to interrupt the logistics of criminal practice, “with a focus on disabling the infrastructure used for the practice of illegal mining, as well as the materialization of evidence about criminal activity”.
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