A mural of British journalist Dom Phillips and Brazilian Indigenous affairs specialist Bruno Pereira is displayed during a vigil in Brasilia, Brazil, on June 9. Photo: Evaristo Sa/AFP via Getty Images
Brazilian police said on Friday that human remains were found near where British journalist Dom Phillips and indigenous expert Bruno Pereira were last seen five days ago on a remote river in Amazonia, The Guardian reports.
The big picture: Brazilian authorities have been searching for the two men since they did not show up in a town following a reporting trip in an area on the border between Peru and Colombia on Sunday.
- Police arrested a man earlier this week for illegal possession of restricted ammunition after blood was found on his boat, though the man's lawyers and family have said he did not have any role in the men's disappearance.
- The human remains and the blood from the man's boat will now be compared with genetic material from Phillips and Pereira, according to police.
The big picture: Phillips, a contributor to The Guardian and the Washington Post, was in the Amazon working on a book on sustainable development there.
- Pereira was accompanying Phillips as a field guide and an expert on indigenous tribes in the Amazon.
- Pereira had previously received death threats for advocating for indigenous people and helping them protect their lands from illegal miners, hunters and loggers, according to The Guardian.
- A Brazilian judge ordered the suspect arrested in connection with their disappearance to be held for 30 days to give police time to determine whether he was involved, according to Reuters.