- The notice, issued on August 30, stems from an investigation by the Brazilian Federal Police that uncovered a technique employed by illegal timber traders in the country.
- The method in question involves obtaining fraudulent forest management plans that declare a higher density of a high-value timber species within a timber concession than actually exists on the ground, allowing criminals to harvest timber from unauthorized areas and report it as if it was legal — in other words, to launder their illegal timber.
- The Brazilian environmental agency IBAMA first notified the country’s federal police of suspected illegal logging activities carried out by a sustainable forest management project called JOVINO VILHENA – Fazenda Esmeralda, based in Santarém, Para State, Brazil, on February 6 of last year.
Interpol has released a purple notice about an illegal timber trading operation involving four companies in Brazil.
The notice, issued on August 30, stems from an investigation by the Brazilian Federal Police that uncovered a technique employed by illegal timber traders in the country. The method in question involves obtaining fraudulent forest management plans that declare a higher density of a high-value timber species within a timber concession than actually exists on the ground, allowing criminals to harvest timber from unauthorized areas and report it as if it was legal — in other words, to launder their illegal timber.
These false forest management plans are obtained through bribery or by the operators who forge them, according to the notice issued by Interpol.
The Brazilian environmental agency IBAMA first notified the country’s federal police last year, on February 6, of suspected illegal logging activities carried out by a sustainable forest management project called JOVINO VILHENA – Fazenda Esmeralda, based in Santarém, Para State, Brazil. The ensuing investigation revealed that JOVINO VILHENA was using a forged forest management plan that had been obtained through bribery.
The forest management plan used by JOVINO VILHENA declared a larger concentration of Ipe (Tabebuia serratiafolia), a hardwood prized for its durability and resistance to fire and pests, in the area it covered. The police investigation also revealed that three Brazilian companies had logged timber using the forged forest management plan: Pampa Exportações LTDA, K.M. Coercio e Exportação de Madeiras LTDA, and Jari Florestal S/A.
In 2015, the purple notice states, these companies made some 28 million Brazilian Real (about $8 million) exporting the illegal timber they cut under the false forest management plan. Half of that timber was exported to Europe, 30 percent to the U.S., and the rest was sold domestically.
Interpol releases thousands of international alerts, or notices, every year to disseminate information about crimes, criminals, and other threats. The international crime-fighting agency can issue a notice on its own initiative or at the request of a member state. Information communicated via Interpol notices is meant to enhance international cooperation between police forces, and usually pertains to suspects wanted for committing serious crimes, missing persons, unidentified bodies, and criminals’ modus operandi, among other issues.
A “Purple Notice” is intended to provide information on the modi operandi, the procedures, the gear and other devices, and the concealment methods used by criminals to commit their illicit acts.
The purple notice from Brazil comes just months after Interpol held a five-day training in April at its Regional Bureau for South America in Buenos Aires, Argentina aimed at strengthening the capacity of the participants to root out corruption and related financial crimes in the forestry sector. The participants all hailed from police, financial intelligence units, forest and environmental law enforcement agencies, and anti-corruption units in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, and Uruguay.
“The history of Latin America is one where the exploitation of natural resources has been prevalent, and deforestation is perhaps one of the clearest examples of where corruption has been involved,” Rafael Cono Pena, the head of Interpol’s Regional Bureau for South America, said in a statement.
Interpol has estimated that corruption in the forestry sector is costing governments worldwide some $30 billion in lost revenue. James Anderson, head of Interpol’s Anti-Corruption and Financial Crimes unit, said that “corruption helps criminals facilitate the trafficking of goods such as timber, which results in substantial revenue and resource loss for developing countries’ governments and their economies, as well as local communities.”
