Brazil targets illegal logging in major Amazon raids

Agents of the Brazilian Institute for the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (IBAMA) inspect logs seized from the Amazon rainforest during an operation to combat deforestation, at a sawmill in Nova California, Rondonia State, Brazil February 8, 2025. REUTERS/Ueslei Marcelino

PORTO VELHO, Brazil - Brazilian environmental agents seized the equivalent of more than 5,000 truckloads of timber in an operation targeting one of the most heavily logged regions of the Amazon rainforest in recent weeks, officials told Reuters.

The raids kicked off a year-long project called Operation Maravalha, named after a type of sawdust, in the states of Amazonas, Para and Rondonia. The government expects Maravalha to be the largest operation of its kind in over five years.