A Brazilian judge ordered a suspect in the disappearance of a British journalist in the Amazon rainforest to be held for another 30 days while police investigate whether he is involved, a lawyer for a local indigenous organization said, APA reports citing Reuters.
The suspect, a fisherman called Amarildo da Costa, known locally as “Pelado,” was arrested on Tuesday and charged with illegal possession of restricted ammunition. State Judge Jacinta Silva dos Santos said the proceedings are under seal and she could not comment on whether other audiences are planned.
Police have said Costa was one of the last people to see freelance journalist Dom Phillips and Brazilian indigenous expert Bruno Pereira on Sunday, when they went missing after visiting the fisherman’s riverside community of Sao Gabriel.
Eliesio Morubo, the lawyer for the Union of Indigenous Peoples of the Javari Valley (UNIVAJA), said the judge agreed to keep the fisherman jailed for 30 days because the case involved a possible “heinous crime” such as murder and hiding bodies.
State police detectives involved in the investigation have told Reuters they are focusing on poachers and illegal fisherman in the area, who clashed often with Pereira as he organized indigenous patrols of the local reservation.
Costa’s lawyers and family have said he fished legally on the river and denied he had any role in the men’s disappearance.
The state public defender’s office confirmed Costa was being kept in police custody while authorities investigate whether he was involved in the case.
Witnesses said they last saw Phillips, a freelance journalist who has written for the Guardian and the Washington Post, on Sunday. His companion Pereira, an expert on local tribes, had been a senior official with government indigenous agency Funai.