Brazil's Supreme Court ordered an investigation of Environment Minister Ricardo Salles as police raided ministry offices Wednesday, targeting a timber trafficking scheme allegedly involving him and other top officials in far-right President Jair Bolsonaro's government.

The ruling by Justice Alexandre de Moraes said federal police had evidence that Salles and other environmental officials were involved in an "extremely serious scheme to facilitate the trafficking of rainforest products."

It suspended 10 officials from their posts, including Eduardo Bim, head of Brazilian environmental protection agency IBAMA, and granted police access to Salles's bank accounts to look for evidence of illicit income. Salles, one of the most controversial figures in Bolsonaro's government, has presided over a surge of deforestation in the Amazon rainforest, and activists accuse him of dismantling Brazil's environmental protection programs.

Brazilian media reported police had searched Salles' home in Sao Paulo as part of the operation. 

Some 160 officers also raided environment ministry offices in Brasilia, Sao Paulo and the northern state of Para, police said.

Under the alleged scheme, IBAMA waived requirements for timber exporters.