Mr Phillips and Bruno Pereira, a Brazilian indigenous expert, went missing more than a week ago in a remote part of the Itaquai River. Police say the second man, Oseney da Costa de Oliveira, is the brother of the first man arrested. Amarildo da Costa de Oliveira, nicknamed Pelado, remains in custody as the main suspect in the case. Describing the latest arrest, police investigator Alex Perez said: “He did not resist being arrested as a homicide suspect based on testimonies that placed the two suspects at the alleged crime scene.” Ammunition and a paddle were confiscated, but detectives did not confirm why the items were confiscated, where they were found or to whom they belonged. Mr Phillips, 57, and Mr Pereira, 41, were last seen on June 5 near the entrance to the Javari Indigenous Territory, which borders Peru and Colombia. The brothers, both 41-year-old fishermen, are being held at the police station in Atalaia do Norte, the nearest town. Pelado fired a rifle at Mr Phillips and Mr Pereira the day before they disappeared, according to locals who were with them. He denies doing anything wrong and claims that the military police tortured him to get a confession, his family said. The hunt for Mr. Phillips and Pereira seems to be coming to an end as the search area shrinks. “We understand that we are heading towards the end” Eliesio Marubo, a lawyer who helped search for the men, said the discovery of evidence helped limit the investigation. “We understand that we are heading towards the end,” he said. Police found a backpack, laptop and other personal items in a river on Sunday and there were reports that the men’s bodies were also found, although police denied it on Monday. Read more: Officials link British journalist’s disappearance in Brazil to ‘fish mafia’ Search teams have found ‘obviously human’ remains at the site where a British journalist was last seen The area where Mr Phillips and Mr Pereira went missing has been rocked by violent clashes between fishermen, poachers and the government. Mr Pereira has previously headed the local office of the Indigenous Government Service, known as Funai, and has been involved in many anti-illegal fishing operations. There has also been violence as gangs fight for control of waterways for cocaine transport. The Javari Valley has seven well-known indigenous groups – some of which have only recently come into contact – and at least 11 non-contact groups, giving it the largest concentration of isolated tribes in the world.
