06/16/2022 07:11 (act 06/16/2022 07:11)
Criminal evidence is assembled ©APA/AFP
The evidence of crime is growing in the case of the missing British journalist in the Brazilian Amazon and of an indigenous expert who has also disappeared. One of the arrested suspects admitted to being involved in the murder of the two, as announced by the Federal Police at a press conference in the Amazon metropolis of Manaus on Wednesday night (local time). The suspect led the police to “human remains”.
These will now be examined. The place was, therefore, a good three kilometers from where the personal belongings of Dom Phillips and Bruno Pereira were found. The motive for the alleged crime was not initially clarified.
Phillips and Pereira did not arrive by boat in the town of Atalaia do Norte on June 5 as planned, according to a regional Aboriginal organization. Pereira had already reported to the police that he had been threatened several times. He had registered illegal activities in Vale do Javari for the authorities.
A good week after the disappearance of the men, according to the media, personal objects belonging to them were found. A second suspect was arrested on Wednesday. He is a fisherman and the brother of the only suspect arrested so far.
Covering an area slightly larger than Austria, Vale do Javari is one of the largest indigenous areas in Brazil. Many indigenous people live in isolation there. The border area with Peru and Colombia is also particularly conflicted and dangerous due to illegal gold prospecting, deforestation, illegal hunting and fishing, as well as drug smuggling.