Excerpt:
Low risk, difficult to detect and with huge profits, this crime affects most countries in the region. There are several ‘cartels’ in this black market.
( Interntional writing with Insight Crime )
Just 50 kilometers from the famous beaches of Rio de Janeiro , one of the city’s most powerful criminals found a fortune in the sand.
Before turning himself in to authorities in December 2023, Luis Antonio da Silva Braga , alias “Zinho,” led the Bonde do Zinho militia. And beyond its criminal interests in Rio, the group had expanded into the nearby municipality of Seropédica, where it allegedly worked with a Rio de Janeiro state legislator to use floating dredges, trucks, tractors, backhoes and silos to illegally collect huge amounts of sand.
Most illegally mined sand is used in the construction sector for materials such as concrete and bricks, as well as for building foundations . It is cheaper than legally mined sand, and poor oversight by authorities across Latin America and the Caribbean has made sand trafficking a relatively profitable and low-risk activity for criminal groups across the region.
As well as filling the coffers of sometimes violent criminal groups, illegal sand mining has caused environmental damage such as the extinction of wild species, changes in river channels and increased flooding.
But this crime is difficult to prosecute, as it is often impossible to differentiate between legally and illegally extracted sand.
“ If you have a truckload of illegal sand, it looks exactly the same as a truckload of legally mined sand ,” Vince Beiser, author of a book on the history of human use of sand, explained…
Also of interest:
Q&A: How Sand Trafficking in Brazil Became a Highly Lucrative Crime – Insight Crime
Excerpt:
Brazilian authorities have launched a series of operations targeting illegal sand extraction as part of a renewed commitment to fighting environmental crimes. But much more may be required to tackle what is now a multi-billion dollar criminal enterprise.
Image at Top: Mining is removing sand from coastal sites, such as this one in Colombia, faster than natural processes can replenish it (photo © Nelson Rangel-Buitrago)
