The main suspect in the killings of a British journalist and indigenous expert has confessed to fatally shooting them in a remote part of the Amazon, police have said.
Police told reporters that the suspect confessed on Tuesday night and also took officers to the spot where the bodies of Dom Phillips and Bruno Pereira were buried.
The pair went missing on 5 June on a remote stretch of the Itaquai River in Brazil.
Bruno Pereira. Pic: Band TV
Dom Phillips. Pic: Band TV
The federal investigator said that Amarildo da Costa de Oliveira, 41, nicknamed Pelado, told police he used a gun to kill the two men before they were buried nearly two miles into the woods.
Alexandre Fontes, federal police superintendent in Amazonas, said excavations are continuing at the site – but its remoteness means there is no phone contact with officers there.
They explained: “From now on, we move on to a new stage: the phase of identifying these human remains, which are being collected with the greatest dignity, in order to preserve the chain of custody, evidence, which is very important.
“These human remains will be taken [on Thursday] to our Criminalistics Institute of the Federal Police, in Brasília, where the identification will take place.
“This identification is carried out using the entire international methodology, which is adopted and recognised by Interpol, with the United Kingdom being part of Interpol.
“When it is proven that these human remains are related to Dom Phillips and Bruno Pereira, we will return them to the family as soon as possible.”
Amarildo da Costa de Oliveira, 41, nicknamed Pelado, showed police where Dom Phillips and Bruno Pereira were buried. Pic: Band TV
Guilherme 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 crime “put bags of dirt on the boat so it would sink”.
Mr Phillips and Mr Pereira were last seen on their boat near the entrance of the Javari Valley Indigenous Territory, which borders Peru and Colombia.
Amarildo, a fishermen, has been described as the main suspect in his case – and a second suspect, his brother Oseney, has also been detained.
More people are likely to be arrested in relation to the killings, police said.
Oseney da Costa de Oliveira and his brother Amarildo, who is nicknamed Pelado. Pic: Band TV
Read more:
Officials link disappearance of British journalist in Brazil to ‘fish mafia’
Amarildo’s family had previously claimed that he had denied wrongdoing and had been tortured by police in attempts to get a confession.
Indigenous people who were with Mr Phillips and Mr Pereira have said that Amarildo brandished a rifle at them on the day before their disappearance.
Brazilian officials had been scouring an area in the Itaquai River after tarpaulin from the victims’ boat was seen – with a backpack, laptop and other personal belongings later found submerged underwater.
The area where the two men disappeared has seen violent conflicts between fishermen, poachers and government agents.
Mr Pereira previously led the local bureau of the government’s indigenous agency, known as Funai, and has been involved in several operations against illegal fishing.
There has also been violence as gangs battle for control of waterways to ship cocaine.
The Javari Valley has seven known indigenous groups – some only recently contacted – and at least 11 uncontacted groups, giving it the biggest concentration of isolated tribes in the world.