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Registration plates of vehicles involved would be useful, and generally this needs to be taken from an angle rather than above and requires high resolution.

I'd guess that it's better for them to have as much in their hands (literally) as they can. I think that creating a satellite has a much higher entry level, and if they need to pay someone for the images, it may be much harder for them. It also may not offer as real time as they need, whereas they can directly control when and where to fly this drone.

Satellite imagery would likely show that it is happening, but it would not provide any evidence as to who is doing it.

Much of the Amazon basin is covered in clouds most of the time. Landsat 8 doesn't have good coverage.