Brazil police target group laundering cash from illegal gold

Associated Press

Brazil’s Federal Police have performed eight searches targeting money laundering derived from illegal gold mining in Roraima state, where the Indigenous Yanomami people are in a health crisis. A police statement says the criminal organization targeted Friday carried out transactions $12 million over a two-year period. The police operation represents part of the fresh effort by authorities to crack down on illicit gold mining in the Yanomami lands. This week, the military and other federal agencies began expeling miners, while also blowing up their boats, planes and a helicopter, as permitted by Brazilian law.