Police and prosecutors from Brazil, French Guiana, Guyana and Suriname announced [11] Jan. 22 the arrest of nearly 200 individuals in a transnational operation to combat illegal gold mining in the Amazon.
Backed by Interpol, the European Union through EL PACCTO 2.0 [12], and a Dutch police unit specializing in environmental crime, "Operation Guyana Shield" involved over 24,500 checks on people and vehicles across remote border areas, and resulted in 198 arrests [15]. Officers seized large quantities of cash, unprocessed gold, and mercury, as well as firearms, drugs and mining equipment. Authorities said organized crime networks behind these operations are linked to a major Guyanese gold exporting firm. The operation signals [13] a new enforcement posture, marked by deeper cross-border collaboration among police and prosecutors to coordinate efforts to disrupt transnational networks that evade jurisdictional boundaries and exploit enforcement gaps across the Amazon border region.
"The surge in international gold prices in recent years has resulted in increased gold mining, making it the fastest-growing revenue stream for organized crime groups," INTERPOL Secretary General Valdecy Urquiza [16] said. Commenting on the collaborative nature of the operation, he continued: "At INTERPOL, we are committed to working with our partners to disrupt those networks and prevent more damage to this remote and environmentally fragile region."
Authorities also seized over $60,000 worth of cylinders of mercury, which is commonly used in illegal gold mining to separate gold. It is extremely toxic and incredibly harmful to both the environment and human health, and can have devastating consequences for both when improperly transported and stored. Officers working on the border between Brazil and Guyana also intercepted a bus carrying undocumented migrants, including minors, who they believe to have been exploited for child labor or sexual abuse.
The Operation Guyana Shield task force was based out of Brazil's International Police Cooperation Center (CCPI) for Amazonia in Manaus, Brazil, and was comprised of officials from all four participating jurisdictions. The operation created a single, coordinated push to disrupt organized crime networks in the Guyana Shield region, which is routinely plagued [17] by illegal gold mining, cross-border smuggling, and related crimes that exploit remote borders and the individual nation’s weak or uneven enforcement capacities.
With enforcement actions increasingly shaped by shared intelligence and coordinated deployments, officials framed Operation Guyana Shield as a test case for sustained regional cooperation against organized crime.
From JURIST [18], Jan. 23. Used with permission.
