[ad_1]
The remains of one of the two bodies found in the Amazon rainforest were those of the missing British journalist Dom Phillips, Brazilian police confirmed today.
They added that identification was done through dental data.
The remains of the second body, believed to be those of indigenous local expert Bruno Pereira – are still being examined, authorities said.
Phillips, 57, and Pereira, 41, were reported missing June 5 as they traveled to the Amazon interviewing indigenous peoples about the consequences of intrusion, hunting and other illegal activities inside the western Brazilian Amazon.
Yesterday a suspect detained by police Amarildo da Costa de Oliveira, admitted that he had buried the bodies. Police also said the man had explained how the two researchers had been killed and then accompanied the officers to the burial site.
The brother of suspect Oseney da Costa de Oliveira, has also been arrested in connection with the incident but denies involvement.
The victim’s brother-in-law, Paul Sherwood, said the family “sought justice for journalists and rainforest advocates, as well as for rapporteurs in aid of indigenous peoples.”
He added that the family believed the victims had been attacked by people involved in illegal hunting who may have acted alone or ordered by “other powerful people”.
Brazilian police said they did not believe the suspects were acting as part of an organized criminal group.
But the local group for the rights of indigenous peoples Univaja, which played a key role in the search for the missing, said the opposite, meaning that an organized criminal group was most likely involved.
They said: “The cruelty of the crime makes it clear that Pereira and Phillips were disrupting the work of an organized criminal organization that tried at all costs to cover its tracks during the investigation.”
The two victims were lost in a remote region in the western jungles of Brazil where thousands of indigenous people from about 20 different ethnic groups live, isolated from the outside world.
In meetings with locals Pereira introduced the journalist who was writing a book on the internal affairs of the Amazon. But their boat did not reach its destination near the border with Peru.
top channel
[ad_2]
Source link
