Illegal Mahogany Raid Seizes $11 million
Copyright 2001 Canada NewsWire
October 31, 2001
DATELINE: BELEM, Brazil / VANCOUVER, Oct. 31 - The Brazilian police and Greenpeace today raided an illegal mahogany sawmill in the heart of the Amazon rainforest. The raid marked the end of a five-day crackdown on illegal logging, during which more than 7,000 cubic metres of illegal mahogany, worth $11 million, was seized.
Two Canadians, Greenpeace forests campaigner Gavin Edwards, from Vancouver; and Tracey Frauzel, who works at Greenpeace's Amsterdam office, were involved. It was the first seizure after the Brazilian government suspended logging of mahogany on October 24.
Three helicopters, two planes, five trucks and 16 Brazilian police and officials were accompanied by 11 Greenpeace activists on the raid on the sawmill, located in the township of Uruara in Para State. Two gunmen were arrested in the raid.
Brazil banned mahogany logging under pressure from Greenpeace. A Greenpeace report, available on www.greenpeace.ca, details the illegalities in and harm caused by logging mahogany, which is found only in pristine areas of the rainforest.
"The illegal mahogany industry has been driving the destruction of the Amazon for years," said Edwards. "After witnessing the rampant destruction of this rainforest firsthand, it is clear that the only course of action left is to throw these loggers in jail and put an end to this industry until it can be brought under control."
Photographs from the raid are available through Reuters (London) and Agence France Presse (Paris). Video is available through Reuters and Associated Press Television.
VIEW ADDITIONAL COMPANY-SPECIFIC INFORMATION:
http://www.newswire.ca/cgi-bin/inquiry.cgi?OKEY=32413
CONTACT: Gavin Edwards, in Brazil, cell, 011 55 92 9603 4796; Tamara Stark,
Greenpeace Canada forests campaign coordinator, (604) 253-7701 x18