An INTERPOL-coordinated operation codenamed Arcadia LAC has recovered more than 80 truckloads of illegal timber from forests across Latin America and the Caribbean. In total, 287 incidents were reported over the operation’s month-long tactical phase in which participating law enforcement agencies carried out intelligence-led activities in priority areas, with a focus on identifying and countering organized crime groups involved in timber trafficking. Sixty-nine individuals were arrested during the operation and several firearms were seized.
Environmental crime is the third largest form of transnational organized crime in the world. Globally, the illegal timber trade is estimated to be worth up to USD 152 billion per year, representing nearly half the illicit proceeds of all environmental crime.
Latin America and the Caribbean are home to 50 per cent of the planet’s biodiversity and a quarter of the world’s tropical forests, according to the United Nations (UN) Environment Programme. The region is also one of the main points of origin for the global timber trade, legal and illegal.
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