Blood found on suspect’s boat in search for Briton in Brazil
TRACES of blood have been found on the boat of a suspect arrested in connection with the disappearance of a British journalist and a Brazilian indigenous expert in the Amazon, authorities said, as calls grew for the search to be extended.
Dom Phillips, 57, a regular contributor to The Guardian, and Bruno Pereira, 41, a specialist in indigenous peoples, were reported missing on Sunday after they ventured into the middle of the Amazon rainforest.
“Traces of blood were found on the boat of Amarildo da Costa de Oliveira, 41,” police said in a statement, adding that a suspect known as “Pelado” was arrested on Tuesday.
The material collected is on its way to Manaus, the capital of Amazonas state, for expert analysis, the statement added.
It was accompanied by images of investigators taking photographs of what appeared to be a small bloodstain on a blue tarpaulin inside a motorboat with peeling paint.
The statement is a grim twist in the ongoing search for the two men, whose fate remains unknown.
The Brazilian authorities said they are hopeful of finding the pair alive but do not exclude any outcome, including that of homicide, in a region where trafficking is rife.
High-profile personalities and environmental and human rights groups have rallied to the cause, urging President Jair Bolsonaro to step up the search. A Foreign Office minister has met Brazil’s chief of police to discuss the disappearance.
Chelmsford MP Vicky Ford said she spoke with Anderson Torres, Brazil’s justice and public security minister, who is also in charge of the federal police, at the Summit of the Americas in Los Angeles.
The minister tweeted: “He assured me Brazilian authorities are doing all that can be done in air, boats & land in v difficult and remote terrain to find Dom and will keep searching.
“[The] UK is ready to support the operation.”