The investigation into the death of the journalist Dom Phillips and Bruno Pereira continues. Photo: EFE
The Brazilian police made a new arrest as part of the investigation into the murder of British journalist Dom Phillips and indigenous expert Bruno Pereira in the Amazon last month, authorities said on Friday.
The detainee is called Rubens Villar Coelho and is known by the nickname “Colombia”. He assured the police that he would buy goods from fishermen in the region, including one of the men who remains in custody after confessing to his involvement in the crime, Amarildo da Costa de Oliveira, known as “Pelado”.
The fourth detainee in the case appeared “spontaneously” before authorities Thursday to deny versions that have been circulating in the Brazilian press for weeks that he was the intellectual perpetrator of the murders, and He was arrested for identifying with false documents.
Aerial view of the city of Atalaia do Norte, which was at the center of the investigation into the Phillips and Pereira murders. Photo: AFP
Phillips, 57, was shot and killed on June 5 along with indigenous peoples expert Pereira, 41, as they returned from an expedition to the Javarí Valley, a remote location in the state of Amazonas. considered dangerous due to the presence of drug traffickersamong others.
The hypothesis as to why Phillips and Pereira were murdered
The main hypothesis of the police is that the motive for the crime exists related to illegal fishing on protected landactivity that Pereira fought against.
“We are investigating whether that person known as ‘Colombia’ (…) participates in any illegal fishing plan, if he funds that activity,” Eduardo Fontes, chief of the federal police of the state of Amazonas, told a news conference this Friday ( north of Brazil).
Fishing and possible illegal activities were at the center of the hypothesis of the death of Phillips and Pereira. Photo: AP
“Colombia” “denies any involvement in the double murder and also denies having ordered it,” added Fontes.
“We don’t know what his true identity is, we have learned that he has documents from three countries (Brazil, Colombia and Peru, Ed.), In each country with a different identification “, said Fontes.
So far, three men have been arrested on suspicion of shooting Pereira and Phillips, and there they are indications that five others have hidden their bodiesfound ten days after his disappearance in a difficult to access area.
“We are deepening the investigation to find out if more people attended, if there is a principal or not and what was the real motivation”, concluded the chief of police of Amazonas.
Phillips lived in Brazil for 15 years and collaborated regularly with the newspaper Guardian. He was traveling through the Javarí valley, led by Pereira, to work on a book on conservation of the environment.
Pereira, who worked for many years in the government agency for indigenous affairs in Brazil, was developing a project to help local indigenous people to report invasions of their land and had received death threats for that job.
Source: AFP
Source: Clarin
