[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"$fdap6horluzgn":3},{"_id":4,"slug":5,"title":6,"subtitle":7,"kind":8,"cards":9,"tags":57,"categories":59,"source":61,"lang":64,"author":65,"audioState":68,"stats":69,"publishedAt":72,"renderer":73},"6abbbcc8ca21c797c7e9d48e","how-gold-surpassed-cocaine-as-perus-most-profitable-criminal-3c779dc0","How gold surpassed cocaine as Peru’s most profitable criminal industry","As gold prices surge, illegal mining has laid waste to swathes of Tambopata National Reserve’s rainforest","news",[10,12,17,22,27,32,37,42,47,52],{"headline":6,"body":7,"imageUrl":11,"sourceImageUrl":11},"https:\u002F\u002Fi.guim.co.uk\u002Fimg\u002Fmedia\u002Fa41b7faf145bae80d51976b4cdc275dfe08c21a6\u002F547_0_5482_4384\u002Fmaster\u002F5482.jpg?width=1200&height=630&quality=85&auto=format&fit=crop&precrop=40:21,offset-x50,offset-y0&overlay-align=bottom%2Cleft&overlay-width=100p&overlay-base64=L2ltZy9zdGF0aWMvb3ZlcmxheXMvdGctZGVmYXVsdC5wbmc&enable=upscale&s=34f4c2bfb113c000c7ee901915f821b1",{"headline":13,"body":14,"imageUrl":15,"images":16},"“Halt, stop right there,” shouts a Peruvian Navy","“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.","\u002Fapi\u002Fmedia\u002Fposts\u002Fhow-gold-surpassed-cocaine-as-perus-most-profitable-criminal-3c779dc0\u002F1.webp",{"local":15},{"headline":18,"body":19,"imageUrl":20,"images":21},"Meanwhile, other marines set dynamite charges on a","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.","\u002Fapi\u002Fmedia\u002Fposts\u002Fhow-gold-surpassed-cocaine-as-perus-most-profitable-criminal-3c779dc0\u002F2.webp",{"local":20},{"headline":23,"body":24,"imageUrl":25,"images":26},"Soon after, a mushroom of orange and black","Soon after, a mushroom of orange and black fumes envelops the trees – and seconds later comes the sound of the explosion, shattering the peace of the Tambopata National Reserve, one of Peru’s most prized Amazon parks.","\u002Fapi\u002Fmedia\u002Fposts\u002Fhow-gold-surpassed-cocaine-as-perus-most-profitable-criminal-3c779dc0\u002F3.webp",{"local":25},{"headline":28,"body":29,"imageUrl":30,"images":31},"Located in the south-eastern Madre de Dios region","Located in the south-eastern Madre de Dios region, the reserve is visited by about 40,000 tourists a year, many of whom stay in luxurious ecolodges further down the Malinowski River that marks the Tambopata park’s northern border. But today eight patrols are moving along the river, by helicopter or boat – and every few hundred metres they encounter more evidence of illegal gold mining, operations that have laid waste to more than 500 hectares of the park’s rainforest in the last year, according to satellite mapping data from Amazon Conservation. In total, more than 140,000 hectares have been lost to mining in Madre de Dios – a shocking 97.5% of the total deforestation caused by mining in Peru’s Amazon rainforest, an area twice the size of the US state of California.","\u002Fapi\u002Fmedia\u002Fposts\u002Fhow-gold-surpassed-cocaine-as-perus-most-profitable-criminal-3c779dc0\u002F4.webp",{"local":30},{"headline":33,"body":34,"imageUrl":35,"images":36},"Military crackdowns on illegal mining in the Amazon","Military crackdowns on illegal mining in the Amazon are not new in Peru. But the skyrocketing international price of gold has caused this destructive activity to spread, empowering local gangs and attracting transnational organised crime. “Dirty” gold has become the country’s most profitable illicit industry, even surpassing drug trafficking in the world’s second-biggest producer of cocaine after Colombia.","\u002Fapi\u002Fmedia\u002Fposts\u002Fhow-gold-surpassed-cocaine-as-perus-most-profitable-criminal-3c779dc0\u002F5.webp",{"local":35},{"headline":38,"body":39,"imageUrl":40,"images":41},"“Gold prices have risen,” said Gen Víctor Cotrina","“Gold prices have risen,” said Gen Víctor Cotrina, the military commander of Madre de Dios, who is leading the crackdown on illegal gold mining. “That’s why, if a miner’s motor is destroyed, he’ll replace it quickly because gold is at its peak price; the very next day he’s back to his mining activities. He’s back at work again.”","\u002Fapi\u002Fmedia\u002Fposts\u002Fhow-gold-surpassed-cocaine-as-perus-most-profitable-criminal-3c779dc0\u002F6.webp",{"local":40},{"headline":43,"body":44,"imageUrl":45,"images":46},"For troops used to combating drug trafficking by","For troops used to combating drug trafficking by targeting well-hidden plantations of coca, which is used to make cocaine, the fight against illegal gold presents new challenges as the end product is not an illicit drug but a legally traded commodity, Cotrina said. “The difference is that an open-pit mining operation doesn’t require covert operations, whereas drug trafficking does.” He said previous anti-mining crackdowns had been ineffective due to corruption and patchy enforcement. But now, with “aerial surveillance and military personnel who are available 24\u002F7 to conduct patrols, we are determined to eliminate mining in this region”.","\u002Fapi\u002Fmedia\u002Fposts\u002Fhow-gold-surpassed-cocaine-as-perus-most-profitable-criminal-3c779dc0\u002F7.webp",{"local":45},{"headline":48,"body":49,"imageUrl":50,"images":51},"According to Peru’s financial supervisory body, illegal gold","According to Peru’s financial supervisory body, illegal gold mining is the top illicit finance threat to the country. For the first time, the illegal trade surpassed the legal production of gold in the first half of this year, according to the Peruvian Economics Institute think tank, which estimates it could reach as much as $18 billion in value by the end of 2026. The country’s Financial Investigation Unit found that illegal mining accounted for nearly 60% of all investigations in terms of value between 2021 and 2025 – far higher than drug trafficking (8%) or tax crimes (4%).","\u002Fapi\u002Fmedia\u002Fposts\u002Fhow-gold-surpassed-cocaine-as-perus-most-profitable-criminal-3c779dc0\u002F8.webp",{"local":50},{"headline":53,"body":54,"imageUrl":55,"images":56},"The evidence is not difficult to find or","The evidence is not difficult to find or destroy. Behind the wall of green that marks the edge of the reserve, troops and environmental prosecutors set ablaze a network of well-supplied mining camps, built with timber and blue tarpaulins and stocked with food and beer. In one location they find a jungle brothel with wooden tables, a bar counter, a stereo and a giant teddy bear, a shower still wet with beauty products inside. A lone cockerel crows as the abandoned camps go up in flames.","\u002Fapi\u002Fmedia\u002Fposts\u002Fhow-gold-surpassed-cocaine-as-perus-most-profitable-criminal-3c779dc0\u002F9.webp",{"local":55},[58],"latam",[60],"World & Politics",{"name":62,"url":63},"Guardian Americas","https:\u002F\u002Fwww.theguardian.com\u002Fworld\u002F2026\u002Fsep\u002F29\u002Fhow-gold-surpassed-cocaine-as-perus-most-profitable-criminal-industry","en",{"handle":66,"displayName":67},"spots","Spots","queued",{"views":70,"likes":71,"saves":71,"shares":71,"completions":71,"opens":71,"skips":71,"depthSum":71},3,0,"2026-09-29T13:27:36.929Z","local"]