Police said their investigation suggested there were more individuals involved beyond Oliveira
\nSAO PAULO:
\nA forensic exam carried out on human remains found in the Amazon rainforest confirmed on Friday that they belonged to British journalist Dom Phillips, Brazil\u2019s federal police said, adding that a search was underway for a man suspected of involvement in his killing.
\nWork is proceeding to determine the cause of death, police said in a statement.
\nThe remains of a second person, believed to be that of indigenous expert Bruno Pereira, were still under analysis, a report by CNN Brasil said earlier on Friday.
\nPereira and Phillips vanished on June 5 in the remote Javari Valley bordering Peru and Colombia. Earlier this week, police recovered human remains from a grave in the jungle where they were led by a fisherman, Amarildo da Costa Oliveira, who confessed to killing the two men.
\nPhillips, a freelance reporter who had written for the Guardian and the Washington Post, was doing research for a book on the trip with Pereira, a former head of isolated and recently contacted tribes at federal indigenous affairs agency Funai.
\nPolice said their investigation suggested there were more individuals involved beyond Oliveira and that they were now looking for a man named Jeferson da Silva Lima.
\nHe is the third suspect named by police after Oliveira and his brother, Oseney da Costa, who was taken into custody this week.
\n\u201cThere is an arrest warrant issued by the State Court of Atalaia do Norte against Jeferson da Silva Lima, aka \u2018Pelado da Dinha\u2019, who has not been located at this time,\u201d police said.
\n\u201cThe investigations indicate that the killers acted alone, with no bosses or criminal organization behind the crime.\u201d
\nLocal indigenous group Univaja, however, which played a leading role in the search, said: \u201cThe cruelty of the crime makes clear that Pereira and Phillips crossed paths with a powerful criminal organization that tried at all costs to cover its tracks during the investigation.\u201d
\nIt said it had informed the federal police numerous times since late 2021 that there was an organized crime group operating in the Javari Valley.
\nINA, a union representing workers at Funai, shared that view.
\n\u201cWe all know that violence in the Javari Valley is linked to a wide chain of organized crime,\u201d it said in a separate statement.
\nPolice said they were still searching for the boat Phillips and Pereira were traveling in when they were last seen alive.
\nU.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price on Friday called for \u201caccountability and justice,\u201d saying that Phillips and Pereira were murdered for supporting conservation of the rainforest and native peoples.
\n\u201cOur condolences to the families of Dom Phillips and Bruno Pereira… We must collectively strengthen efforts to protect environmental defenders and journalists,\u201d Price said on Twitter.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Police said their investigation suggested there were more individuals involved beyond Oliveira SAO PAULO: A forensic exam carried out on human remains found in the Amazon rainforest confirmed on Friday that they belonged to British journalist Dom Phillips, Brazil\u2019s federal police said, adding that a search was underway for a man suspected of involvement in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":266813,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[2319,8662,481],"class_list":{"0":"post-266780","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-amazon","9":"tag-british-journalist","10":"tag-police"},"yoast_head":"\n