“He was arrested by the Federal Police as well as a person involved in the criminal organization that committed the murders of Bruno Pereira and Dom Phillips. More information will follow shortly,” said the Minister of Justice and Public Security, Flávio Dino, on social networks, without revealing his name.
Pereira and Phillips disappeared on June 5, 2022, while traveling in the indigenous lands of the Javari Valley, from where they set off for Atalaia del Norte, but did not reach their destination.
Their remains appeared on June 15 in an area indicated by imprisoned fisherman Amarildo da Costa Oliveira, known as Pelado, who confessed to burying the dead near Atalaia do Norte in a forest on the banks of the Itacoaí River.
Da Costa Oliveira confessed that Jeferson da Silva Lima was responsible for the deaths.
In addition to these two, Oseney da Costa de Oliveira, Amarildo's brother and known as Dos Santos, is in prison and is also being tried.
The victims' bodies were dismembered, burned and then thrown into a ditch.
The indigenous man was murdered with three shots, one in the back, without any possibility of defense, which also qualifies the crime.
Phillips, a correspondent for the British newspaper The Guardian, was killed only because he was with Pereira to ensure impunity for the earlier murder, according to the Federal Ministry of Public Security.
He came to Brazil in 2007 and has constantly traveled to the Amazon to report on the effects of climate change on the jungle and indigenous peoples.
According to the Brazilian Public Security Forum, the area where the couple was traveling is “the scene of clashes between criminal groups, characterized by the overlap of environmental crimes, ranging from deforestation and illegal mining to actions related to drug trafficking enough.” and weapons.
rgh/ocs