MOSCOW, October 15 (RIA Novosti) – Greenpeace Brazil activists have conducted an undercover operation, placing GPS tracking devices on the trucks belonging to people suspected of illegal logging in the Amazon rainforest, The Guardian reported Wednesday.
"We were convinced the operation would bring strong evidence of this silent crisis affecting the Amazon and its people," leader of the Greenpeace operation, who requested anonymity, told The Guardian.
"We had to work opportunistically, waiting for the best moments [to install the GPS trackers] when the truckers were [distracted], talking to someone," the leader added.
Prior to the operation, Greenpeace activists spent two months conducting on-the-ground surveillance and studying the routines of the truckers. Once the most promising targets had been identified, eight activists went undercover, passing themselves off as travelers.
Satellite and aerial images were also collected and analyzed as part of the Greenpeace operation, which was conducted in the remote and dangerous state of Para, where violence has often accompanied attempts to expose illegal logging.
Para produces and exports more timber than any other state in Brazil, according to The Guardian, which cites data from Imazon, a Brazilian NGO, as saying that three-quarters of the wood shipped from Para is illegally felled.
