Brazilian authorities say a fisherman confessed to killing a British journalist and an Indigenous expert in Brazil’s remote Amazon region and took police to a site where human remains were recovered
MANAUS, Brazil -- A fisherman confessed to killing a British journalist and an Indigenous expert in Brazil’s remote Amazon region and took police to a site where human remains were recovered, a federal investigator said after a grim 10-day search for the missing pair.
قالت السلطات إنها تتوقع إجراء المزيد من الاعتقالات في قضية الصحفي المستقل دوم فيليبس وبرونو بيريرا البرازيلي ، اللذين اختفيا في 5 يونيو / حزيران.
They gave no immediate explanation of a motive for the killing, but officials earlier suggested that Pereira's work to stop illegal fishing in an Indigenous reserve had angered local fishermen.
Two federal police officials in the capital, Brasilia, told The Associated Press on Thursday that a total of five people were being investigated, including the fisherman who confessed and his brother who was detained Tuesday as a suspect. The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the investigation, provided no further details.
At a news conference Wednesday night in the Amazon city of Manaus, federal police investigator Eduardo Alexandre Fontes said the prime suspect in the case, 41-year-old Amarildo da Costa de Oliveira, told officers he used a firearm to kill the men
وقال توريس عن المكان الذي عثرت فيه الشرطة على رفات بشرية يوم الأربعاء بعد أن قاده دي أوليفيرا ، الملقب بـ "بيلادو" ، "لن يكون لدينا أي طريقة للوصول إلى هذا المكان بسرعة دون الاعتراف".
“We found the bodies 3 kilometers (nearly 2 miles) into the woods,” the investigator said, adding that officers traveled about one hour and forty minutes by boat and 25 more into the woods to reach the burial spot.
Torres said the remains were expected to be identified within days, and if confirmed as the missing men, “will be returned to the families of the two.” A federal police plane flew the remains into Brasilia on Thursday evening, and officials said testing would begin Friday.
The suspect’s family had said previously that he denied any wrongdoing and claimed police tortured him to try to get a confession.
وقال ضابط آخر ، هو جيلهيرمي توريس ، من شرطة ولاية أمازوناس ، إن قارب الرجال المفقودين لم يتم العثور عليه بعد ، لكن الشرطة تعرف المنطقة التي يُزعم أنها مخبأة فيها.
Police: Amazon fisherman confesses to killing missing men
Brazilian authorities say a fisherman confessed to killing a British journalist and an Indigenous expert in Brazil’s remote Amazon region and took police to a site where human remains were recovered
ByFabianno Maisonnave, Edmar Barros and Mauricio Savarese Associated Press
June 17, 2022, 2:17 AM