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Possible human remains have been found in the search for a missing British journalist and indigenous leader who went missing a week ago in a remote area of the Brazilian Amazon.
Phillips House, a regular contributor to The Guardian, and former Indigenous worker Bruno Pereira were last seen on the morning of June 5 near the local Havari Valley in the remote Brazilian Amazon region, bordering Peru and Colombia.
The two men were in the Sao Rafael community and were returning by boat to the nearby town of Atalaya do Norte, but never arrived. After what was criticized as a slow start, the Brazilian army, navy, civil defense, state police and local volunteers were mobilized in the search.
Speaking at the American summit in Los Angeles on Friday, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro promised that his armed forces were working “tirelessly” to find them, according to Reuters.
Suspect detained as Brazil steps up search for missing British journalist and researcher in remote Amazon
A December 2009 photo shows British journalist Dom Phillips disappearing while reporting in a remote and illegal part of the Amazon rainforest near the Peruvian border with Brazil. (Paul Sherwood / Distribution via REUTERS)
Brazilian federal police revealed on Saturday that “apparently human” remains were found in an area of the river on Friday near where the two men went missing, and “organic material” was sent for forensic analysis, Reuters and the Associated Press reported.
But sources, including a federal police officer and a U.S. detective, have expressed doubts to Reuters that such material could be more than butcher’s clippings, judging by where it was found.
The only known suspect in the disappearances is fisherman Amarildo da Costa de Oliveira, also known as Pelado, who has been arrested on charges of illegal possession of limited ammunition.
The BBC reported that police said he was one of the last people spotted with Phillips and Pereira, and blood traces found on his boat will be tested to see if it is a DNA match of the missing men.
According to locals who were with Pereira and Phillips, da Costa de Oliveira brandished a rifle against them the day before the couple disappeared. He denies any wrongdoing and said military police tortured him to try to obtain a confession, his family told the AP.
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Judge Jacinta Silva dos Santos has agreed to detain the fisherman for another 30 days as police continue to investigate whether he was involved in the disappearances of the two men. At least six other people were questioned.
A photo taken in December 2009 and received by Reuters on June 7, 2022, shows British journalist Dom Phillips, who disappeared while reporting in a remote part of the Amazon rainforest. (Paul Sherwood / Distribution via REUTERS)
Phillips, who lives in El Salvador, Bahia, contributed to the Washington Post and the New York Times. He is writing a book on the protection of the Amazon with the support of the Alicia Patterson Foundation, which awarded him a one-year scholarship to report on the environment.
Pereira, who previously headed the local bureau of the government’s Indigenous Peoples Agency, known as FUNAI, is involved in several operations against illegal fishing. In such operations, fishing gear is seized or destroyed and fishermen are fined and detained for a short time.
Only indigenous peoples can legally fish in their territories.
“The motive for the crime is some kind of personal feud over the fisheries inspectorate,” Atalaya Mayor to Norte Denis Paiva speculated to reporters, without giving further details.
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The AP had access to information that the police shared with the indigenous leadership. While some police officers, the mayor and others in the region have linked the disappearances to a “fish mafia”, federal police do not rule out other lines of investigation. There is increased drug trafficking in the area.
The disappearances come three years after the still unsolved murder of Funai employee Maxiel Pereira dos Santos, who was shot dead in front of his wife and daughter-in-law in Tabatinga.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Daniel Wallace is a Fox News Digital reporter covering politics, crime, police and more. Story tips can be sent to danielle.wallace@fox.com and on Twitter: @danimwallace.
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