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Armed police swooped in to Peru’s Amazon basin, torching an illegal gold mine and displacing hundreds of workers after their digging destroyed a huge swathe of rainforest.

Decades of mining have transformed large expanses of vital jungle, leaving them barren wastelands poisoned with mercury as prospectors cash in on the precious minerals held underground.

This week hundreds of police moved in to the La Pampa mining camp in Madre de Dios in Peru as part of an unprecedented operation to rid the area of “wildcat” miners once and for all.

The government has created a task force to destroy 55 illegal settlements.

During the past decade alone around 230 square miles of rainforest – roughly the size of Merseyside – has been stripped in the Madre de Dios region.

The illegal mining has also poisoned the rivers, while numerous animals have suffered because their natural habitat has been destroyed.

The ruined lands scar the south-eastern region of Peru, a mecca of biodiversity whose natural marvels lure thousands of eco-tourists and where several tribes live in voluntary isolation.

(Image: Getty)

Up until two years ago no one knew the full extent of the damage until a research team from the Carnegie Institution for Science in Washington DC, and Peru’s Ministry of the Environment used satellite imagery to map the destruction.

The findings shocked millions and finally highlighted the devastating effect the illegal mines have had.

Most of the damage has been done by outsiders and has left many of the indigenous tribes homeless.

The government ordered mining machinery to be blown up and gas supplies to be cut off in the bid to smash the illegal businesses and a last-ditch attempt to try to regrow the vital rainforest.

The authorities have also moved in to remove the cottage industries set up to servicee the mines, including scores of brothels used by the workers.

(Image: Getty)

According to officials, mining is second only to clear-cutting for agriculture as the biggest cause of deforestation in Peru.

Environment Minister Manuel Pulgar-Vidal said: “It is terrible for the nearly irremediable wounds it causes to the forest.”

Critics say the police stings are only stop-gap measures that do little to curb the gold rush driven by high prices.

“We have to come here constantly until these criminals understand this is a crime,” said anti-illegal mining boss Antonio Fernandez.

Police have also destroyed the businesses, including nightclubs and grocery stores in ramshackle structures made from logs and tarpaulin, that supported the miners in the jungle.

Some people who fled the camps watched on from the edge of the forest.

(Image: Getty)

Mariala Valdez said: “We are not treated like humans, we are being treated worse than animals. What are we going to do now?

“We have nowhere to live and no way of supporting ourselves.”

Mariala added: “They do not care though.

“The fact hundreds of us have been left so damaged by the conditions doesn’t mean a thing.”

The study by the Carnegie Institution for Science found that 76.5% of people in the region had mercury levels above acceptable limits.

A typical illegal gold mine begins with clearing out a small patch of forest near a river – large enough to cover moderate mining ground but small enough to not be seen by police spotter planes.

The illegal workers then draw water from the river with pumps and high-pressure hoses, using them to blast the topsoil away from the area they want to mine.

(Image: Getty)

This creates sloppy mud which is poured into a large upright drum.

Large quantities of mercury are then added to help separate the gold from the pieces of earth.

The miners climb into the barrels and jump up and down, squashing the mixture out for it to be panned. The mercury binds to any gold nuggets which are then laid out to dry.

This process releases more of the potentially lethal mercury into the atmosphere. Many workers have suffered poisoning – some have died.

One hub for selling gold in the city of Puerto Maldonado, which is in Madre de Dios and is 530 miles east of the capital Lima, contained mercury levels so high that researchers were

not able to measure them with standard equipment.

People were found to have 22 times more than the World Health Organisation’s recommended levels.

Many locals protest about the gold rush that has plagued their land and health. The residents blame the wild-catters who have given no thought to the environmental impact of their actions.

Even though there are large legal mining enterprises in the region, it is the smaller unlawful operations that dominate the gold mining trade in Madre de Dios.

Mine worker Carlos Villa said: “The illegal mines do not have the same restrictions imposed on those that run their businesses by the book.”

Carlos added that the legitimate firms cannot compete with the illegal ones that strip any piece of land to make their money.

Last year officials halved output from unregulated mines in Madre de Dios to eight tonnes but as output rose 28% in the first five months of this year the government ordered the new crackdown.