OFFICIALS said today that Brazil had broken up a deforestation gang which the authorities considered the worst offenders operating in the Amazon basin.

The gang had been invading public land in northern Para state, burning down forest, dividing the land into parcels and selling it, federal police said.

The Brazilian Environmental Institute estimated that the criminal group had been responsible for environmental crimes to the tune of $230 million (£138.7m).

“The suspects are considered to be the greatest destroyers of the Brazilian Amazon currently active,” the institute said.

They should be charged with invading public land, environmental crimes, forgery, criminal association and money-laundering, it added.

Arrest orders are being served in the states of Sao Paulo, Parana and Mato Grosso, police said.

If convicted, the suspects face more than 50 years in prison.

Police did not say how many arrests they are expecting to carry out during the operation.