World

Suspect arrested as search for missing British journalist and researcher in Brazil – Henry Club

June 9, 2022
Bharat Times English News

There is growing concern about the fate of Dom Phillips and Bruno Araujo Pereira, who were Missing information for the first time in Jawari Valley, in the far western part of the state of Amazonas on Sunday. A few days back he had allegedly received death threats.

At a news conference on Wednesday, Amazonas’ State Security Secretary General Carlos Alberto Mansour said the suspect is under investigation in police custody.

Mansoor said the man was arrested after being found in possession of “a lot of drugs” and ammunition used for poaching.

Authorities said on Wednesday they were investigating a range of things, including murder, and added that they still “can’t rule out anything.”

Mansoor noted that police have also questioned five others in connection with the disappearance of Phillips and Pereira, who had traveled to the area to conduct research for a book project on conservation efforts in the area.

Before the news conference, media organization and family members of both the missing called for the federal government to intensify its search efforts. Federal Superintendent of Police Eduardo Alexandre Fontes said on Wednesday that a total of 250 men, two helicopters, three drones and 16 boats had been deployed for the search and rescue operation.

According to the coordination of the indigenous organisation, Phillips and Pereira have been missing for more than 72 hours. The organization, known as UNIVAJA, said satellite information showed the couple’s last known location in the So Rafael community on Sunday morning, where they expected to meet a local leader who never showed up.

a “dangerous” zone

Home to thousands of indigenous peoples and about 16 non-contact groups, the Jawari Valley – the second largest Indigenous territories in Brazil There are rivers and a piece of dense forest here which makes it very difficult to reach. The region is threatened by illegal miners, loggers, poachers and international drug traffickers who exploit the vast network of rivers.

On Wednesday, Federal Police Superintendent Fontes described the area where Phillips and Pereira went missing as “complicated” and “dangerous”.

Phillips and Pereira traveled to the area to conduct research for a book on conservation efforts. Amazon Expert Philips First informed of For the British newspaper The Guardian on the threats posed by illegal mining and ranchers to non-contact indigenous groups in the area.
Despite being under government protection, the Javari Valley can be a hostile environment for journalists and indigenous rights activists. According to the Brazilian Public Prosecutor’s Office, there was an indigenous affairs activist the killing In the field in September 2019.

“In the region, violence is progressing in an increasingly uncontrolled manner in the context of invasion of the indigenous lands and lands of the state, suppression of press freedom and the work of journalists,” UNIVAJA said in a statement.

In 2018, Phillips reported on illegal mining and threats posed by ranchers to unrelated indigenous groups there, with Pereira at the center of that article.

Survival International, an NGO that advocates for indigenous peoples, said that Pereira had previously received “many threats” as a result of her work as an “accomplice of the indigenous struggle”.

Tara Subramaniam wrote from Washington, DC. Camilo Rocha and Marcia Reverdosa reported from Sao Paulo, Brazil.