Brazilian police find boat of murdered British journalist, guide

• The boat was 20 metres under water and 30 metres from the right bank of the Itaquai River, filled with six sandbags to keep it submerged.
• The ship will now be searched for information.
• British journalist Dom Phillips and his Brazilian expert guide Bruno Pereira were travelling before they were killed.

ATALAIA DO NORTE, Brazil – Brazilian police announced Monday that they had discovered the boat in which British journalist Dom Phillips and his Brazilian expert guide Bruno Pereira were travelling before they were killed in the Amazon.

According to federal authorities, the boat was discovered Sunday night 20 metres (65 feet) under water and 30 metres from the right bank of the Itaquai River, filled with six sandbags to keep it submerged.

The ship will now be searched for information.

Phillips, 57, and Pereira, 41, went missing in a remote section of the jungle riddled with illegal mining, fishing, and logging, as well as drug trafficking, on June 5.

On Wednesday, ten days later, a suspect named Amarildo da Costa de Oliveira — known as Amarildo da Costa de Oliveira — was arrested.

Human remains discovered on the scene were taken to Brasilia for analysis and were determined to be those of the two missing men.

They were shot, authorities reported on Saturday.

‘Powerful criminal organisation’ is a term used to describe a group of people that are

A third suspect surrendered to police and told them where they could find the boat.

Pereira’s boat engine and four drums were also discovered, according to the police statement.

Five more people believed to have been involved in concealing the bodies have been identified, it added.

Last week, police said the men’s killers had acted on their own initiative and not as part of a criminal group — a conclusion rejected by the Univaja Indigenous association, which had participated in the search.

“A powerful criminal organisation… plotted the crime down to the slightest detail,” according to Univaja.

When they went missing, Phillips, a longtime contributor to The Guardian and other big international newspapers, was working on a book about sustainable development in the Amazon with Pereira as his guide.

loggers and miners with an eye on isolated Indigenous resources have threatened Pereira, a specialist at Brazil’s indigenous affairs agency FUNAI.

According to Univaja, “a formidable criminal organisation… meticulously organised the crime.”

Phillips, a frequent contributor to The Guardian and other major international publications, was working on a book about sustainable development in the Amazon with Pereira as his guide when they vanished.

Pereira, a specialist at Brazil’s indigenous affairs agency FUNAI, had received numerous threats from loggers and miners interested in isolated Indigenous resources.