Federal police said in a statement earlier that they were still looking for Phillips and Pereira in what they described as a homicide investigation after the suspects were arrested. Band News also reported that at least one of the suspects had confessed. Reuters witnesses saw police pulling out a masked and hooded man, whom they described as a suspect, outside the river where the men had disappeared. Police did not comment on the alleged confession. Brazilian President Zaire Bolsonaro said on Wednesday afternoon that he expects the case to be resolved in the next few hours. Police identified the suspects as fisherman Amarildo da Costa, also known as Pelado, who was arrested last week on gun charges, and his brother Oseney da Costa, 41, or Dos Santos, who was taken into custody that night. on Tuesday. Oseney da Costa, in the center, is escorted by federal police to a police station in Atalaia do Norte, Brazil, on Tuesday. (Avener / Prado-Agencia Publica via AP) The family of the suspects denied that they had a role in the disappearance of the men. The public defenders representing the brothers were not immediately available for comment. Reports suggest a grim conclusion to a case that has sparked a global alert, hanging over Bolsonaro at a regional summit last week and causing concern in the British Parliament on Wednesday. Phillips, a freelance reporter who has written for the Guardian and the Washington Post, researched a travel book with Pereira, a former insurgent leader, and recently contacted tribes in the Federal Reserve’s Funai. It was located in a remote area of the jungle near the border with Colombia and Peru called the Javari Valley, which hosts the largest number of contactless natives. The area has been invaded by illegal fishermen, hunters, lumberjacks and miners, and police call it a key drug trafficking route. The brothers were spotted meeting on the Itaquai River shortly after Phillips and Pereira crossed on June 5, a witness told police in a Reuters report. Federal police show up after arriving in Atalaia do Norte, Brazil on Tuesday. (Joao Laet / AFP / Getty Images) A police report said witnesses heard Pereira say he had received threats from Amarildo da Costa. In his previous role with Funai, Pereira played a key role in stopping illegal gold mining and poaching by rivers inhabited by indigenous Javari tribes. News of the men’s disappearance resonated around the world, with human rights groups, environmentalists and supporters of press freedom urging Bolsonaro to step up investigations. Bolsonaro, who once faced a tough question from Phillips at a news conference about weakening environmental law, said last week that the two men were “on an unintended adventure”. A protester holds a poster with pictures of Phillips, left, and Pereira in Rio de Janeiro on Sunday. (Bruna Prado / The Associated Press) On Wednesday, Bolsonaro suggested that Phillips had made enemies by writing about environmental issues. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson told parliament on Wednesday that he was deeply concerned about Phillips’ disappearance and said his government was working with Brazilian authorities to investigate the case. “What we have said to the Brazilians is that we are ready to provide all the support they may need,” he said.
