BOA VISTA, Brazil (AP) The scorching Amazon sun beats down as a group of agents inspect the body of a black helicopter. Nearby, in the backyard of the federal police headquarters in the city of Boa Vista, sit more than twenty aircraft all seized.
An Associated Press investigation, which includes interviews with prosecutors, federal law enforcement agents, miners, and industry insiders, shows that the
Drawn by high gold prices, reduced state and federal oversight and outdated mining legislation, thousands of Brazilian miners have flocked to Indigenous lands.
An Associated Press investigation, which includes interviews with prosecutors, federal law enforcement agents, miners, and industry insiders, shows that the unauthorized aircraft and the countless liters of fuel needed to power them and other mining equipment form the backbone of the shadowy economy of illicit gold mining on Indigenous lands in Brazil's Amazon region