Expectations for a British journalist who disappeared while investigating the activities of the “rainforest mafia” in Amazon have been shattered.
Dom Phillips and Bruno Pereira, the resident employee he worked for, have not been seen since Sunday morning.
They disappeared from an isolated part of the rainforest in an isolated area on the border between Peru and Colombia.
Police confirmed that they were investigating a possible human body found in the Itakuai river near the port of Atalaia de Norte.
The pair were known to return to the side by boat, but did not arrive.
Phillips and Pereira were last seen in the community of San Rafael in the Java Valley, the second largest indigenous region in Brazil.
Brazilian authorities arrested the suspects, fishermen Amarido and Costa de Oliveira, also known as Perado.
He was arrested on murder charges and investigators say blood samples found on his boat were sent to the lab for forensic examination.
His family claims he is innocent, denies he fished illegally and claims he was tortured to gain approval in a case of international attention.
Brazilian authorities have been accused of being slow to respond to requests for large-scale search activity.
Phillips’ wife appealed directly to the government with a video in which she tearfully asked to use more resources for that effort.
Phillips, 57, has lived in Brazil for more than a decade and recently wrote a book on Amazon conservation.
Respected journalists who have contributed to national newspapers in both the UK and the US have previously been threatened with coverage of illegal logging, mining and drug trafficking in the Amazon.
Pereira works as an officer in the area and has recently led efforts to protect the area from illegal fishermen and poachers.
Human Rights Watch calls it a criminal organization that conducts illegal business activities in the deep jungle mafia of the Amazon.
Campaigners say violence against indigenous communities facing illegal operations escalated during the presidency of Jair Bolsanaro, reducing security and opening the door to the logging industry.
Journalist sister Xian Phillips urged the Brazilian government to put more pressure on him to find out the truth.
He told the BBC: “We want to know what is happening to them.
We want a long-lasting, deep and open investigation.
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Source: Metro
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