Although they gave few details, police said three of those arrested in operations near Brazil’s borders with Peru and Colombia were wanted for helping to bury the bodies of Phillips and Pereira. All three are related to Amarildo da Costa Oliveira, one of three men charged last month with the double murder in a case that shocked the world and highlighted growing insecurity in the heavily forested region. Phillips, 57, and Pereira, 41, went missing in the Javari Valley in western Brazil on June 5, at the end of a trip Phillips had arranged to report on a book on sustainable development. Phillips had written for the Observer and the Guardian as well as other publications. Pereira, a former official in Brazil’s state indigenous service, knew the area well and was helping the Briton in his research. The men were ambushed early one morning as they headed up the Itaquaí River in their boat. Police believe the assailants shot them dead and then took their bodies to the jungle, where they buried them in a hastily dug grave. However, two of the suspects confessed to the crime and led the police to where they had buried their bodies. Police believe the killers were concerned that Pereira had photographs and evidence that they were fishing in restricted areas for endangered species, including turtles and pirarucu, one of the world’s largest freshwater fish. A single pirarucu can fetch up to $1,000 in markets in Brazil and Colombia, and police believe criminal mafias work with poor local fishermen to hunt the animals, often in indigenous reserves where access to outsiders is prohibited. They arrested a man last month for using fake identity documents and on Saturday said they identified him as Ruben Dario da Silva Villar, also known as “Colombia”. Police “found strong evidence that Colombia is the leader and financier of an armed criminal organization dedicated to the practice of illegal fishing in the Javari Valley [and] responsible for the sale and export of a large quantity of fish,” the federal police said in a statement. Local news reported that da Silva Vilar provided the local fisherman with boats, engines and bait. Indigenous activists in the region welcomed the news “with great joy” and said it marked “the beginning of justice”. A lawyer for the Univaja Indigenous organization said the arrests, and particularly the Colombian one, confirmed their original position – that the killings were not carried out by individuals working alone, but with the cooperation or orders of a local mafia. “A criminal organization has been working in the Javari Valley for a long time and today’s investigation, operation and arrests only reinforce that,” said Eliesio Marubo, Univaja’s lawyer. “That’s how we feel represented. This is the beginning of justice for our friends who were brutally murdered.” “This reinforces the need for state involvement in a sector that has been abandoned by the state,” he added. The investigation continues.
