How gold surpassed cocaine as Peru’s most profitable criminal industry

AI Summary

Illegal gold mining has become more profitable than cocaine in Peru as rising gold prices drive operations in and around Tambopata National Reserve. Peruvian naval commandos are pursuing miners and destroying equipment, while mining activity has scarred the rainforest and polluted waterways.

As gold prices surge, illegal mining has laid waste to swathes of Tambopata National Reserve’s rainforest “Halt, stop right there,” shouts a Peruvian Navy Seal, firing warning shots into the air. But the fleeing man pays no attention, scrambling up to the rim of a football pitch-sized crater and disappearing into the dense rainforest as the commandos give chase, swearing and shooting. Meanwhile, other marines set dynamite charges on a makeshift wooden raft that floats in the crater, which is essentially an enormous pit of opaque, stagnant water. The raft has a diesel-fuelled suction pump motor with thick plastic tubing used to suck up and sift through river sediment for tiny particles of gold. Continue reading...