An international crackdown on environmental crime across Latin America and the Caribbean led to 233 arrests and uncovered links between large-scale Amazon deforestation and companies across several continents.

As wealthy people and governments seek refuge in gold from inflation, wars, and geopolitical instability, the heyday of the precious metal has turned mining into such a magnet that, since last year, illegal miners have deforested an area equivalent to roughly 700 soccer fields within Tambopata, digging up dirty gold potentially worth millions of dollars.

The raid over several days this week was part of an intensified government campaign against illegal gold mining in Madre de Dios, one of Peru’s most biodiverse regions, as authorities try to stop the activity from advancing into protected areas of the Amazon. Mining has stripped away vast areas of rainforest, leaving behind a scarred landscape of contaminated pools and altered rivers in the hunt for lucrative gold.

Teams of soldiers on Tuesday stormed Tambopata National Park, a spot in the Peruvian Amazon in the southeastern Madre de Dios region visited by an average of 40,000 tourists per year. ABC News documented countless gold mining camps along the Tambopata river, which was home to a rich rainforest a few years prior.