Brazil: British journalist mysteriously disappears in Amazon – Traces of blood found on fisherman’s boat

Alarm has meant in Brazil after disappearance in Amazon of one British journalist and one Brazilian specialist in the natives. THE police has focused its investigations on persons involved in illegal fishing and poaching in indigenous lands, three of its officers told Reuters.

The police are investigating Traces of blood found on a boat belonging to a fisherman, who has been arrested. Blood samples will be tested to see if they are from a human or an animal.

Freelance journalist Dom Phillips went missing while researching a book in the valley of the river Giavari, together with Bruno Araούzo Pereira, a distinguished indigenous expert. Phillips worked regularly with the Guardian.

The two men were traveling by boat on Lake Zambourou, in the State of Amazonas and were expected to return on Sunday night, around 21.00 local time (02.00 on Monday, Greek time) to the city of Atalaya do Norte.

Pereira, who knows the area well and has worked extensively with FUNAI, the indigenous government body, he often received threats from loggers and workers in illegal mines on the border with the territories of the natives. FUNAI said it was cooperating with local authorities in the search for them.

Two of the officers in charge of the case belong to the state police, while the other is a senior officer of the Brazilian federal police. All three, according to APE-MPE, asked for anonymity to comment on the ongoing investigation.

“The prevailing theory at this point is that the persons involved and their motives are linked to illegal fishing and poaching in indigenous territories “ said the federal police officer.

The disappearance of the two men has caused global sentiment, with politicians, celebrities, journalists and activists calling on the government of Zaich Bolsonaro to step up efforts to locate them.

Brazilian Justice Minister Anderson Torres told Vicky Ford, a senior British official in charge of Latin America, that Brazil would continue to investigate Phillips until all possibilities were met, following a meeting with her. margin of the America’s Summit in Los Angeles.

As Torres said, 300 men, two planes and 20 boats are taking part in the search for what he described as a “very difficult area”. “Even if you have 30 planes and a million people it may not workCommented Torres, who, at the summit, was also under pressure to continue the investigation by John Kerry, the US climate spokesman.

Phillips and Pereira were reporting for the Jawari Valley, a remote jungle near the Peruvian-Colombian border. where there is the largest number of unknown indigenous peoples in the world.

This wild area attracts cocaine traders as well as poachers and illegal fishermen. Illegal fishermen and poachers travel to the depths of the Giavari Valley, near the border with Peru, to discover protected species such as piracus (S.C .: the largest freshwater fish in South America), which are sold in local markets in neighboring cities, such as Tabatinga.

In 2019, the Maxiel Pereira, who worked with Funai to stop illegal fishing in the Giavari Valley, was killed in Tabatinga.

As a former Funai official, Bruno Araραzo Pereira often clashed with fishermen and traveled to the area at gunpoint.

He had recently received a threatening letter from a fisherman, police told Reuters.

Police in the city of Atalaya do Norte interrogated several fishermen and arrested one of them, a local fisherman named Amarildo da Costa, known in the area as “Pelando”.

He was charged with illegal possession of prohibited ammunition. According to police, he is one of the last people to see the two men.

A senior federal police officer and one of the other two officers say da Costa is suspected of illegal fishing.

Da Costa’s lawyer, Davi Oliveira, claimed that his client was not involved in the disappearance of the two men and that he was involved in legal fishing.