Police from five Amazon nations launched a major clampdown on environmental crime. The action resulted in hundreds of arrests and the seizure of timber, minerals, and livestock in the world’s largest rainforest.
Officials from Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru confirmed that Operation Green Shield 2026 took place from July 15 to 31. More than 3,600 officers worked to combat illegal activities, including mining, logging, wildlife trafficking, fuel smuggling, and land grabbing throughout the Amazon Basin.
The operation led to 839 arrests during 1,045 field actions. Authorities confiscated over 280,000 cubic meters (9.9 million cubic feet) of illegal timber. This amount is enough to fill approximately 110 Olympic-sized swimming pools. Additionally, 195 metric tons of minerals were seized, along with equipment used in illegal mining such as gold, carbon, iron, and copper.
Authorities rescued more than 3,000 live animals and recovered at least 430 dead animals, including snakes, birds, lizards, and fish, all linked to wildlife trafficking.
Environmental crime is a highly profitable illicit industry in the Amazon. It thrives due to global demand for gold, timber, and wildlife. Criminal organizations often engage in multiple crimes, like illegal mining and logging, using shared routes and financial networks that cross national borders.
This operation emphasized the need for cross-border collaboration in combating these crimes. Criminals frequently move people and goods between countries to evade law enforcement.
The operation was coordinated in Bogota by the International Initiative of Law Enforcement for Climate (I2LEC). This initiative, backed by the United Arab Emirates, was established in collaboration with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime in 2023. It aims to strengthen international cooperation against environmental crime.
The latest crackdown follows a similar operation in 2025 involving over 1,500 officers from Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru. That initiative was among the first to coordinate intelligence sharing and simultaneous enforcement across borders against environmental crime.
This year’s effort included Bolivia and involved synchronized actions in remote border and river regions. A statement from Col. Dana Humaid, Director General of the International Affairs Bureau at the UAE Ministry of Interior, emphasized the importance of collaboration in tackling transnational crime. “By working together, law enforcement agencies can achieve stronger results,” she stated.
The goods seized during the operation had a combined value exceeding $280 million.
Gen. William Oswaldo Rincón Zambrano, Director of the Colombian National Police, highlighted the role of intelligence sharing. “Protecting our natural resources requires a shared response,” he said. Peruvian police environmental chief Gen. J. Manuel Cruz Chamba added that environmental crimes ignore borders, necessitating international cooperation.
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