Brazilian police raid targets accused of laundering millions in gold mined in the Amazon

Brazil’s Federal Police have conducted raids targeting a criminal group it alleges has laundered at least 3.1 metric tons of gold illegally mined in the Amazon rainforest to conceal its origins. The group operated within the Kayapo people’s territory in Para state and is believed to be connected to an organization that extracted gold illegally from Yanomami territory in Roraima state, the police statement said. Among the suspects are public officials and Indigenous individuals. A federal judge also ordered the freezing of assets totaling 2.9 billion reais ($512 million).