A third suspect has been arrested in Brazil after the killings of indigenous expert Bruno Pereira and British journalist Dom Phillips in the Amazon rainforest nearly two weeks ago.
Brazil’s federal police said Jefferson da Silva Lima, known as Pelado da Dinha, turned himself in at a police station in Atalaia do Norte.
Officers said the suspect would be referred to a custody hearing.
A day after investigators identified remains found buried in a remote part of the Amazon as those of Phillips, police said another set of remains belonged to his guide Pereira.
Pereira andMr Phillips were shot with ammunition typically used for hunting, officers said.
The pair were last seen alive on June 5, sparking a search across a section of the Amazon that is about the size of Austria.
Phillips, 57, was a freelance journalist who had written extensively on issues in the rainforest. Pereira, 41, was an outspoken defender of indigenous rights, who had received multiple death threats for his work.
Police commissioner Alex Perez Timoteo told news site G1 that evidence so far indicated the suspect “was at the scene of the crime and actively participated in the double homicide that occurred”.
Two other men are already in prison for their alleged involvement in the killings: Amarildo Oliveira, known as Pelado, and his brother Oseney da Costa de Oliveira, known as Dos Santos.
Phillips and Pereira were last seen in a boat on the Itaquai River, near the entrance of the Javari Valley Indigenous Territory, which borders Peru and Colombia.
Police said on Friday they believe the perpetrators had “acted alone, without there being an intellectual author or criminal organisation behind the crime”.
The Univaja association of indigenous peoples rejected the police's conclusion.
“These are not just two killers, but an organised group that planned the crime in detail,” Univaja said in a statement.
The group claimed authorities had ignored numerous complaints about the activities of criminal gangs in the area.
The pair's remains were found on Wednesday, after fisherman Pelado confessed to the killing, and took police to the place where he buried the bodies. He told officers that he used a firearm to commit the crime.
The bodies were transported to the capital city of Brasilia for forensic examinations.
The area where Phillips and Pereira went missing has been the scene of violent conflicts between fishermen, poachers and government agents.
