Manaus, Brazil - Approximately 410 cubic metres of illegal timber confiscated by IBAMA (the Brazilian Environmental Agency) over the Easter holidays have disappeared from Catalao Lake, near Manaus, in the State of Amazonas, Brazil. The logs were seized after Greenpeace discovered them and notified the authorities in mid April.

Under a somewhat peculiar clause in Brazilian law, the illegal logs were placed by IBAMA in the protective costody of the logger, Raimundo Nonato de Souza, Santos, the same logger charged and fined for being in possession of these logs in the first place.

Illegal logs discovered in the AMazon two weeks ago by Greenpeace.

IBAMA first heard of the missing logs from Greenpeace representatives, who went to the Catalao Lake log compound on Tuesday to further document the seizure; IBAMA is now investigating but has yet to determine who has taken the logs or where they have been taken.

A total of more than 2,100 m3 of illegal timber was impounded by IBAMA over the Easter week. Part of the cargo, 1,480 m3, had no supporting documentation and was retained in Manacapuru, a municipality near Manaus. The balance of the cargo which, according to IBAMA, was destined for the Chinese multinational Compensa and the Brazilian sawmill Pereira, were inspected by IBAMA on arrival at Catalao Lake. Of the 1,200 m3 of logs in this raft, 410 m3 of timber had no supporting documents. The raft was then confiscated and the logger, de Souza, charged and fined.

Two weeks later, both the legal and illegal timber have vanished.

"This case shows that, even after being officially confiscated by the environmental agency in charge, illegal timber still reaches the sawmills," said Paulo Adário, Greenpeace Amazon campaigner. "It's a concrete example both of the impunity of the logging industry and of the inefficiency of the agents in charge of enforcing the law. The entire system needs to be urgently changed. It is out of control."

NOTE:
1: The disappearance of the log raft is only one of the problems faced by IBAMA in Manaus. The two infractions applied by the IBAMA agents have serious defects. The one related to the missing log raft does not mention the serial numbers of ATPFs (the document that authorises transport of forest products), nor the annex copies of such documents. There is no signature of Clovis Moises de Souza, the driver of the boat that was towing the raft. According to IBAMA, the boat driver did not sign the document because he is illiterate, but he also did not leave his fingerprint.

The two witnesses of the infraction belong to the IBAMA crew and a signature from one of them is missing. The infraction related to the log raft apprehended at Manacapuru also presented several irregularities. The signatures of the same two IBAMA witnesses and of the same boat driver are missing and the serial numb

For more information about Greenpeace's ancient forests campaign, email: guestforest@ams.greenpeace.org