RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil - Police have begun a massive operation to dismantle a gang that illegally cut down and exported to the United States a rare Brazilian wood used mainly in the production of musical instruments.
Some 350 federal police officers, backed by state police and government environmental agents, arrested 25 people and began serving 67 search and seizure warrants for the illegal extraction of rosewood, an endangered tree species native to eastern Brazil, federal police said in a statement.
Rosewood, known in Brazil as jacaranda da bahia, exists mainly in the northeastern state of Bahia and is legally protected by Brazilian law and by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora.
Prized for fine guitars and other instruments, rosewood has been listed as endangered since 1992 by Ibama, the government environmental protection agency.
After a five-month investigation, police found the gang sent the wood mainly to the United States, in shipments by mail or in containers. Police said the gang exported at least 13 tons of rosewood in the past four years but declined to estimate its value.
The U.S Fish and Wildlife Service’s Northeast Region Office of Law Enforcement said it is working with the Brazilian Federal Police Environmental Crimes Division to investigate the alleged illegal trade.
"As part of this cooperative investigation, Service special agents executed a federal search warrant (Thursday) at a location in central Massachusetts," the office said. The search warrant has been sealed by the court, and further information was not available, the office said.
Brazilian federal police said gang members had the collaboration of customs agents who told them beforehand when police planned a surprise raid on shipments. The rosewood was concealed amid cheaper wood, and false export licenses indicated the timber was not rosewood, which cannot be harvested or shipped, police said.
The statement added that agents of the U.S. Forest Service also were involved in the shipments but did not offer details.
"This is an environmental crime," Sgt. Paulo Chaves of Brazil’s Environmental Police said in a televised interview. "It is subject to a fine of up to 150 reals (US$83, €59) per cubic meter."
The suspects will be charged with using false documents, criminal association and contraband, a crime punishable by up to eight years in prison, police said.
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