- Dom Phillips, a freelance journalist, and Bruno Pereira, an Indigenous official, were last seen on June 5 near the Javari Valley Indigenous Territory.
- The two men were in the Sao Rafael village and were on their way to Atalaia do Norte, a nearby city, by boat, but never arrived.
- Police were still examining human remains discovered in the region where the couple vanished.
Authorities say the main line of inquiry into the disappearance of a British journalist and an Indigenous official in the Amazon goes to an international network that pays impoverished fishermen to illegally fish in Brazil’s second-largest Indigenous territory.
Dom Phillips, a freelance journalist, and Bruno Pereira, an Indigenous official, were last seen on June 5 near the Javari Valley Indigenous Territory, which spans an area the size of Portugal and borders Peru and Colombia.
The two men were in the Sao Rafael village and were on their way to Atalaia do Norte, a nearby city, by boat, but never arrived. On Saturday, police said they were still examining human remains discovered in the region where the couple vanished.
Read more: Human remains discovered in hunt for a missing British journalist in Amazon
Local businesspeople are also being investigated for a plan in which they pay fishermen to enter the Javari Valley, capture fish, and bring it to them.
The arapaima, the world’s largest freshwater fish with scales, is one of the most expensive targets. It can weigh up to 200 kilograms and grow to be 3 meters long. The fish is sold in surrounding places such as Colombia’s Leticia, Brazil’s Tabatinga, and Peru’s Iquitos.
According to Manoel Felipe, a local historian and teacher who also served as a councilman, an illicit fishing expedition to the huge Javari Valley lasts about a month. One fisherman receives at least $3,000 on each illegal incursion.
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“The fishermen’s financiers are Colombians,” Felipe said.
“In Leticia, everybody was angry with Bruno [Pereira]. This is not a little game. It’s possible they sent a gunman to kill him.”
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