Army brought in to help illegal Amazon timber crackdown

Brazil .Hundreds of police and environmental officials are being backed up by army troops to enforce national forest laws which are being flouted by loggers and landowners. Around 300 agents have been sent to just one town, Tailandia, to inspect the local sawmills; of around 100 mills operating there, only 21 have the correct licences.
If sending the army in seems heavy-handed, bear in mind what happened in Tailandia last week when rioting sawmill workers chased inspectors from Brazils' environment protection agency out of town. The International Herald Tribune reports that sawmill owners threatened to fire anyone who talked to the inspectors, provoking the hostile reaction.