Traces of blood have been found on the boat of a suspect arrested in connection with the disappearance of a British journalist and an indigenous expert in the Amazon rainforest, police have said.
Mr Phillips and Mr Pereira were on a reporting trip in the Javari Valley, a remote jungle area near the Peruvian and Colombian border that is home to the world’s largest number of uncontacted indigenous people. The region is currently experiencing a surge in violence driven by miners, gold diggers and drug traffickers.
Local authorities investigating their disappearance found traces of blood on the boat of fisherman Amarildo da Costa, known as “Pelado”, who was arrested and questioned by police earlier this week.
He has since been charged with illegal possession of restricted ammunition.
Federal police on Thursday said a forensic officer and state police were checking for “possible genetic material” on the boat with the reagent Luminol, which reveals blood stains.
“The material collected is on its way to Manaus,” the capital of the Amazonas state region, for expert analysis, the statement added.
A detective working on the case told the Reuters news agency that police were probing whether the blood on the boat was human or not.
Mr Da Costa’s lawyer, Davi Oliveira, told the news agency his client was not involved in the disappearance of Phillips and Pereira.
Six other men have been questioned in relation to the case, police said.
Pelé, 81, retweeted a video made by Mr Phillips’s wife calling for an urgent search for the pair.
“The fight for the preservation of the Amazon forest and of the Indigenous groups belongs to all of us,” the three-time World Cup winner wrote on Twitter.
“I am moved by the disappearance of Dom Phillips and Bruno Ferreira, who dedicate their lives to this cause. I join the many voices that make the appeal to intensify the search.”
Mr Phillips, 57, has reported from Brazil for more than a decade and has been working on a book about preservation of the Amazon.
Earlier this week, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro drew criticism when describing the two men’s work in the Amazon as an “adventure.”
“Really, just two people in a boat in a completely wild region like that is not a recommended adventure. Anything could happen. It could be an accident, it could be that they have been killed,” he said in an interview with television network SBT.
