An ocelot, a Spaniard, and 1,400 animals

Inside Operation Green Shield: how a Middle Eastern country carried out a major environmental crime crackdown in the Amazon

The gang called itself “The Predators of the East”. In late July it became the hunted when dozens of officers from the Peruvian National Police stormed its headquarters in the Amazonian city of Iquitos.

Inside, officers found a grim menagerie: juvenile monkeys, sloths and even an ocelot were found in various states and bound for the illegal wildlife trade. The gang may have made more than $1.5m since 2022, according to authorities. Twelve people, including a Spaniard alleged to be the ringleader and five local government officials, were arrested. Some 1,400 animals were rescued.

The raid, supported by the US Fish and Wildlife Service, was part of a much larger operation called Green Shield. Led by the United Arab Emirates, it comprised coordinated raids across four countries in one of the largest crackdowns on environmental crime in the Amazon Rainforest. More than 1,500 officers from Peru, Brazil, Colombia, and Ecuador made 94 arrests across two weeks, seizing $64m in assets.

Why the Amazon matters

The Amazon is a vitally important hub of biodiversity. It is home to about 10 per cent of all species on Earth and produces an estimated 20 per cent of fresh water on the planet through its basin system, as well as serving as a significant carbon sink. It spans 6.7m square km – roughly similar to the continental US – and sits across nine countries, although the bulk is found in Brazil.

One of 1,400 live animals seized from the Predators of the East gang. Credit: USFWS

But it is under threat. Deforestation is swallowing up its trees driven by cattle farming, illegal mining and other types of environmental crime. Its animals are poached to fuel the illegal black market in wild animals, while its waters are poisoned by mercury released by gold miners.

Coordinated strike

Green Shield was an attempt to coordinate law enforcement efforts across the Amazonian countries. From a control centre in Colombia’s capital Bogota, agencies used real-time data to carry out 350 raids across the region.

In total, officers seized 310 tonnes of raw minerals, 3,800 cubic metres of timber and tens of thousands of gallons of smuggled fuel. The seizures represent a cross-section of the environmental crimes with which the Amazon is plagued. Illegal gold miners, often linked to violent armed gangs, are driven by the high price of gold, while illegally felled timber is often ‘laundered’ into the legal trade with falsified or altered permits. Illegal Amazonian timber has been linked to decking sold in the United States, according to NGO reports.

In addition, the operation shone a spotlight on the size of the illegal wildlife trade from the region. Authorities seized more than 2,100 live animals and discovered another 6,000 dead. The illegal wildlife trade is highly lucrative and the relatively lighter sentences, compared to the smuggling of drugs or weapons, makes it an attractive sideline for criminal syndicates.

Challenging conditions