In a mega operation against illegal logging in Bolivia and Peru, 15 out of 22 members of a gang operating in the forests of both countries were arrested.
This gang, known as Los Villanos de Tahuamanu, is a criminal organization composed of a former prosecutor from the Madre de Dios region and regional government officials.
Together with a wide network of people carrying out the tasks of collection, transportation, and commercialization from Bolivia to Peru of illegal wood.
Illegal logging in Bolivia and Peru: how the operation unfolded
In the operation called Reforestation 2024, carried out on Sunday, October 27, 15 out of the 22 members of the criminal organization were arrested.
This is how the gang operated between the forests of Bolivia and Peru.
A total of 19 properties were raided in a joint action between the Specialized Prosecutor’s Office in Corruption Offenses (Fecof) of Madre de Dios and the High Complexity Investigation Division (Diviac) of the National Police of Peru (PNP).
They also had the support of a team from the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol). The investigation into the gang began over two years ago, after another criminal organization dedicated to the same illicit activity, known as Los Hostiles de la AmazonÃa, was dismantled.
In this case, it was uncovered in September 2020 and had among its members the then regional governor Luis Hidalgo.
The Prosecutor’s Office requested pretrial detention for the 15 detainees, but the Judiciary ordered the release of all after they filed a writ of amparo.
The gang involving a former prosecutor
Illegal logging between Peru and Bolivia.
The network of Los Villanos de Tahuamanu was divided into six groups for the investigation. The central group, facilitators, intermediaries, recipients, public officials, and another group led by José Guillermo Araujo Quiña.
It includes a former prosecutor dismissed for releasing two individuals involved in gold trafficking.
How the gang operated
Los Villanos de Tahuamanu extracted wood from various unauthorized locations in Peru, and also from some areas in Bolivia.
According to the prosecutor’s file, the wood was transported via the Interoceanic Highway and stockpiled in places called “dumps,” located at kilometer 540 of this route.
In this border area between Brazil and Peru, there are two routes connecting both countries, and “triple” vehicles, used for wood transport, move through there.
They went from sawmills to the “dumps,” where forest transport guides were awaited to “legalize the wood.” Then, they transported it in trailers to other cities in the country.
MartÃn Arana, an expert in Amazonian Territorial Management at the Foundation for Conservation and Sustainable Development (FCDS) in Peru, provided more details about the area.
“A few years ago, I made that journey; it was a fairly wide path, and you could see truck tracks. From San Lorenzo (Peru), it’s less than 10 minutes to the border point (with Bolivia),” he explained.
“On the other side, in Bolivian territory, it was mentioned for several years that there was a fair a few days a week where everything arrived. And, of course, all of that smuggled into the Peruvian side,” he emphasized.
From San Lorenzo, it is the closest crossing point. The same happens in the case of Mavila. “These were originally access paths to enter the Brazil nut concessions,” Arana pointed out.
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