This Saturday, in Guyana, a GIGN policeman was shot dead while taking part in an operation to fight against illegal gold panning. The soldier, aged 35, was in operation on the gold panning site of Dorlin, in the center of this overseas territory.
A GIGN gendarme was shot and killed in French Guiana while taking part in an operation to combat illegal gold panning, AFP learned on Saturday from a source familiar with the matter, confirming information from the Actu17 site. The 35-year-old soldier was in operation on the Dorlin gold panning site, in the center of this overseas territory, where this illegal activity is a source of significant pollution, said this source.
In 2012, two soldiers were killed and two gendarmes seriously injured by bullets during a joint army/gendarmerie operation against illegal gold diggers in Guyana, already at the Dorlin site.
In 2022, the French authorities carried out more than 1,000 patrols in the forest against illegal gold panning, seizing 59 kilos of mercury and 5 kilos of gold, according to a report from the prefecture. According to local mining operators, 10 tons of gold are illegally extracted from Guyana each year by “garimpeiros” (miners).