Police investigate financing of illegal mining in Yanomami territory
An operation launched on Tuesday morning (Feb. 28) by the Federal Police investigates the movement of more than BRL 270 million by suspects of buying gold from the Yanomami indigenous land.
According to the corporation, three warrants of search and seizure and blocking of assets are being carried out.
The investigations began after an anonymous information indicating that the owner of a construction materials store in the state of Roraima would be using the company to move values for the purchase of gold of criminal origin, the Federal Police informed.
"Analyses of the movements of those involved endorsed the suspicions that they would receive amounts from hundreds of individuals and legal entities related to the mineral trade. Some of them are targets of other Federal Police actions."
The police also said the suspect would have moved BRL 162 million. Another suspect, whose declared income is only BRL 40 thousand, would have moved in his accounts more than BRL 12 million.
"In total, those investigated in the scheme would have moved BRL 271 million in a period of four years," the police reported.
The name of the police operation - Nau dos Quintos - refers to the ship that transported part of the gold taken from Brazil to Portugal during the colonial period.
