RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The Civil Police of Pará have identified three suspects of arson in a native forest area in the southeast of the state.
On Thursday, August 29th, police officers carried out search and seizure warrants in the suspects’ homes. Two are brothers and owners of the Ouro Verde farm, in São Félix do Xingu, and the third is the farm manager.
The farm is located within the Triunfo do Xingu Environmental Protection Area.
According to the police, a group of workers in slave-like labor conditions was found at the site. The operation is still in progress.
During the search and seizure operation, one of the suspects was arrested in the act with an unlicensed .38 caliber revolver, at the farm’s headquarters in São Félix do Xingu.
All three will be held accountable for environmental damage, pollution, fires and criminal association. According to the police, teams search the suspects’ farm and other properties, located in the state of Goiás.
According to the Internal Police Director of the Civil Police of Pará, José Humberto Melo, the investigations demonstrate that the group has already cut down and set fire to more than 5,000 square kilometers of forest.
Investigations suggest that one of the suspects may have hired more than fifty men to cut down 20,000 hectares on the Ouro Verde farm, which is located within an environmental protection area.