The main suspect in the murders of a British journalist and local expert has admitted that he shot them dead in a remote part of the Amazon, Brazilian police said.
Police told reporters that the suspect made a confession on Tuesday night and took police to the place where the bodies of Dom Phillips and Bruno Pereira were buried.
The couple disappeared on June 5 in a remote part of the Itaquai River in northeastern Brazil.
Image: Bruno Pereira. Photo: Band TV Image: Dom Phillips. Photo: Band TV
A federal investigator said 41-year-old Amarildo da Costa de Oliveira, nicknamed Pelado, told police he used a gun to kill the two men before being buried nearly two miles in the woods.
Alexander Fontes, the head of the federal police in Amazonas, said excavations at the site were ongoing, but his remoteness meant there was no telephone contact with officials there.
They explained: “From now on, we are moving to a new stage: the phase of identifying those human remains that are being collected with the greatest dignity in order to preserve the chain of guardianship, evidence that is very important.
“These human remains will be taken [on Thursday] to our forensic institute of the federal police in Brazil, where the identification will take place.
“The identification is carried out according to the entire international methodology, which has been adopted and recognized by Interpol, and the United Kingdom is part of Interpol.
“Once it is proven that these human remains are related to the House of Phillips and Bruno Pereira, we will return them to the family as soon as possible.”
Image: Phillips House. Photo: Band TV
Guillermo Torres of the Amazonas State Police said a boat belonging to Mr Phillips and Mr Pereira had not yet been found, but police knew the area where it was hidden.
He said those behind the crime were “putting bags of soil on the boat to sink”.
Mr Phillips and Mr Pereira were last seen on their boat near the entrance to the local Havari Valley, which borders Peru and Colombia.
Pelado, a fisherman, has been described as the prime suspect in the case. A second suspect, his brother Autumn, was also detained.
More people are likely to be arrested in connection with the killings, police said.
Image: Oseney da Costa de Oliveira and his brother Amarildo, nicknamed Pelado. Photo: Band TV
Read more: Officials link British journalist’s disappearance in Brazil to “fish mafia”
Pelado’s family had previously said he had denied wrongdoing and had been tortured by police in an attempt to obtain confessions.
Locals who were with Mr Phillips and Mr Pereira say Pelado brandished a rifle against them the day before they disappeared.
Brazilian officials searched an area in the Ithaca River after a tarpaulin was found from the victims’ boat, with a backpack, laptop and other personal belongings later found underwater.
The area where the two went missing has been rocked by violent clashes between fishermen, poachers and government agents.
Prior to that, Mr. Pereira headed the local office of the government’s local government agency, known as Funai, and was involved in several operations against illegal fishing.
There was also violence as gangs struggled to control waterways to supply cocaine.
The Havari Valley has seven well-known local groups – some of which have only recently contacted – and at least 11 contactless groups, giving it the largest concentration of isolated tribes in the world.
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