Investigator Eduardo Alexandre Fontes said Amarildo da Costa de Oliveira, 41, nicknamed Pelado, told officers he used a firearm to kill Brazil native Bruno Pereira and freelance reporter Dom Phillan. . Officials said Pelando took police to a spot Wednesday where they removed human remains, about three kilometers into the forest. The remains had not yet been positively identified. As federal police announced their press conference, Pereira’s colleagues called for vigils outside the headquarters of the Brazilian government’s indigenous affairs service in Brasilia. Pereira was on leave from the agency. A protester holds a banner with a picture of British journalist Dom Phillips, left, and indigenous expert Bruno Araujo Pereira during a protest in Manaus on Wednesday. (Suamy Beydoun / Reuters) Pereira, 41, and Phillips, 57, were last seen in a boat on a river near the entrance to the Javari Indigenous Territory, which borders Peru and Colombia. That area has seen violent clashes between fishermen, poachers and government officials. The natives who were with Pereira and Phillips said that Pelando hit them with a rifle the day before the disappearance of the two men. Pelado’s brother Oseney da Costa de Oliveira, also 41, is also in custody. Pelado’s family told the Associated Press that he denied any wrongdoing and claimed that police had tortured him to try to obtain a confession. Official search teams had focused their efforts around a spot on the Itaquai River where a tarpaulin was found from the boat used by the missing on Saturday. Police and rescuers are searching for Phillips and Pereira in Atalaia do Norte on Sunday. (Bruno Kelly / Reuters) Authorities began searching the area and found a backpack, laptop and other personal items submerged in the water on Sunday. Police said the items belonged to the missing. Police previously said they found traces of blood on the Pelado boat. Police also found organic material apparently of human origin in the river that was sent for analysis.
“Fish Mafia”
Authorities said the main line of inquiry showed an international network that pays poor fishermen to fish illegally in the Javari Valley refuge, Brazil’s second-largest indigenous region. One of the most valuable targets is the largest freshwater fish in the world with scales, the arapaima. It weighs up to 200 kg and can reach three meters. The fish is sold in nearby towns, including Leticia, Colombia. Tabatinga, Brazil; and Iquitos, Peru. Pereira, who previously headed the local office of the Brazilian government’s indigenous service, known as FUNAI, has been involved in a number of anti-illegal fishing operations. In such operations, fishing gear is usually seized or destroyed, while fishermen are fined and detained for a short period of time. Only the natives can legally fish in their lands. The AP had access to information shared by the police with the indigenous leadership. While some police and others in the area have linked the couple’s disappearances to the “fish mafia”, federal police have not ruled out other lines of investigation, such as drug trafficking. In 2019, FUNAI official Maxciel Pereira dos Santos was assassinated in Tabatinga in front of his wife and fiancée. Three years later, the crime remains unsolved. His colleagues at FUNAI told the AP that they believed the killing was linked to his work against fishermen and poachers.
