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Thirteen security guards kidnapped from one of Peru’s largest gold mines were found dead on Sunday, in a brutal incident that underscores the worsening security crisis in the country’s Amazonian Pataz province.

The victims, employed by private security firm R&R, had been dispatched to confront individuals involved in illegal mining when they were abducted by a criminal group attempting to seize control of the Poderosa gold mine. The men were taken and held in a mine shaft, where they were threatened for days. According to local, a video circulated on social media —allegedly filmed by the captors— shows the guards being executed at point-blank range.

“Poderosa laments the death of the 13 workers who were cruelly murdered by criminals allied with illegal mining,” the .

Violence linked to illegal mining has escalated sharply in the region. In December 2023, illegal miners launched a coordinated attack on the Poderosa mine, using explosives that resulted in the deaths of nine individuals and left 15 others injured. A similar attack took place in April last year.

The mining company stated that 39 people connected to mining in Pataz have been killed by criminal groups since Poderosa began extraction in 1980, including the latest 13. Despite a state of emergency declared in April and a police presence in the area, the company says authorities have failed to act decisively.

Poderosa criticized the government’s lack of enforcement, saying police have refused to dismantle illegal mine entrances used as hideouts by criminal groups, despite their locations being well known.  

“It will not be possible to defeat criminality if, despite our repeated requests, the police continues to refrain from entering and interdicting the illegal mine entrances which are used as a base and shelter by criminals,” the company said said.

Poderosa also took aim at a government programme that grants temporary permits to informal miners, allowing them to continue operations while they await formal legal status. The scheme, extended in November, has drawn criticism from industry groups and analysts who say it effectively shields illegal miners from prosecution.

Peru’s Interior Ministry confirmed that special police units had been sent to “locate and capture those responsible for these heinous crimes,” but gave no further details on the attack or its perpetrators.

Illegal gold mining in Peru has surged in recent years, driven by high gold prices. The illicit activity was worth more than $6 billion in 2024, according to the Peruvian Institute of Economics. The violence tied to it forms part of a broader regional crisis, with Peru, Ecuador, and Colombia all declaring or extending states of emergency this year in response to criminal activity linked to mining, narcotics, and extortion.