Hopes are fading for a British journalist who went missing while researching ‘rainforest mafia’ activity in the Amazon.
Dom Phillips and an indigenous official he was working alongside, Bruno Pereira, have not been seen since Sunday morning.
They vanished from a remote part of the rainforest in an isolated area on the border with Peru and Colombia.
Police have confirmed they are investigating potential human remains found in the Itaquai River, near Atalaia do Norte’s port.
The pair were known to be returning to the area by boat but never arrived.
Mr Phillips and Mr Pereira were last seen in the Sao Rafael community in the Javari Valley, Brazil’s second-largest indigenous territory.
Brazilian authorities have arrested a suspect, fisherman Amarildo da Costa de Oliveira, also known as Pelado.
He was arrested on gun charges before being charged with murder and investigators say samples of blood found in his boat have been sent to a lab for forensic examination.
His family insist he is innocent, denied he was fishing illegally and alleged he has been tortured to solicit a confession in a case which has received international attention.
Brazilian authorities have been accused of responding too slowly to requests for a full search operation.
Mr Phillips’ wife directly appealed to the government in a tearful video appeal for more resources to be put towards the effort.
Mr Phillips, 57, has reported from Brazil for more than a decade and has most recently been working on a book about preservation of the Amazon.
The respected journalist, who has written for both British and US national newspapers, has previously received threats for his coverage of illegal logging, mining and drug trafficking in the Amazon.
Mr Pereira has worked as an official in the region and was most recently spearheading efforts to defend the area against illegal fishermen and poachers.
Human Rights Watch has dubbed the criminal groups which operate illicit commercial activities deep in the Amazon ‘rainforest mafias’.
Campaigners say violence against the indigenous communities standing in the way of illegal operations has increased under the presidency of Jair Bolsanaro, who has scaled back protections and opened the door to the logging industry.
Sian Phillips, the journalist’s sister, called on the government to put further pressure on the Brazilian authorities to uncover the truth.
She told the BBC: ‘We want to find out what is happening to them and we want anyone responsible for any criminal act to be brought to justice.
‘We want a persistent, deep and open investigation.’
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