NOVA ESPERANCA DO PIRIA, Brazil, (Reuters) -  Environmental police in Brazil seized the equivalent of 300  truckloads of wood in a major raid on illegal loggers, the  government said yesterday, the latest effort to curb  destruction of the Amazon rain forest.

During the surprise raid in Nova Esperanca do Piria, 120  miles (190 km) southeast of the city of Belem, police shut down  13 logging companies and sawmills, and seized tractors, guns,  and ammunition, Environment Minister Carlos Minc said during a  visit to the remote jungle site. The owners fled the area.

The crackdown is the latest in a series of measures by the  government to meet a new target of reducing destruction of the  Amazon forest by 50 percent during the next decade.

“We are determined to slash deforestation — this operation  is a warning to illegal loggers,” Minc told Reuters before  ordering the destruction of 120 kilns for making charcoal,  which is used by iron ore smelters to fire blast furnaces.

Brazil’s government last year abandoned years of opposition  to deforestation targets and now is under pressure to show the  world community and critics at home that it can deliver,  particularly ahead of a major climate change summit in  Copenhagen in December.

Minc aims to reduce deforestation to about 3,700 square  miles (9,500 sq km) in the 12 months through July, the lowest  on record and down from 4,600 square miles (11,900 sq km) the  year earlier.