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A man who allegedly ordered his henchman to track down and kill an indigenous tribal expert in June in the Amazon jungle has been captured, police said.
According to law enforcement officials in Brazil, Rubén Dario da Silva Villar, also known as Colômbia, ordered the killing of 41-year-old Bruno Pereira, an activist helping indigenous tribes fight illegal fishing and hunting.
When Villar’s men pursued the activist, they chased him in a boat and shot him, also shooting dead British journalist Dom Phillips, 57, who was in the Amazon doing research for a book.
Villar, an illegal fish smuggler, is the fourth man arrested after three were arrested and charged last year in connection with his murders.
Federal police say they’re still looking for one man they believe gave one of the guns to a gunman and also helped hide the bodies.
Bruno Pereira, 41, an activist helping indigenous tribes fight illegal fishing and hunting, was reportedly ordered killed.
Dom Phillips, 57, was in the Amazon doing research for a book.
Villar (pictured) was initially arrested in July after the murders for using a false investigation during questioning, but was later released.
Villar was initially arrested in July after the murders for using a false investigation during questioning, but was later released.
He was arrested again in December for violating the rules of his release and has been detained since that incident.
On Monday, law enforcement officials said during a news conference that Villar provided the ammunition to kill the couple, made phone calls to the confessed killer before and after the crime and paid his lawyer.
The group of officials said they plan to charge Villar with the killings, ordered because they believed Pereira was hurting their business with his activism.
Pereira and Phillips were traveling through the Amazon in June to meet with a group of indigenous men patrolling the Javari Valley.
The area is home to a remote indigenous reserve with 19 different groups.
Protests erupted in Brazil and around the world over the death of Perira and Phillips
Beatriz Matos, widow of human rights activist Bruno Pereira, center, and Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, former president of Brazil, second from left, attend an event with the indigenous community.
Brazilians and indigenous groups held memorials for the two men in the weeks after their disappearance and death.
Pereira, a former senior Brazil official on tribes, was working with the groups, training them to document crimes using phones and cameras.
Indigenous groups were working to combat illegal fishing and hunting in the region, which had increased under the administration of former President Jair Bolsonaro.
Phillips was accompanying and interviewing members of the tribe for a book about the ways people worked to save the Amazon rainforest.
Police say they believe Villar ordered the killings based on witness testimony and records linking it to the ammunition used and the attorney for one of the men who was also arrested.
Villar has denied any wrongdoing in the case.
“I have no doubt that Colombia was the mastermind,” investigator Alexandre Fontes said at a news conference, according to the Brazilian news website G1.
Pereira, a former senior Brazil official on tribes, was working with the groups, training them to document crimes using phones and cameras.
The Javari region is an area notorious for illegal mining and drug trafficking, and the couple had reportedly faced threats prior to their disappearance.
A mural of the late human rights activist Pereira outside an event with indigenous leaders
The fisherman Amarildo da Costa, known as ‘Pelado’, his brother Oseney da Costam or ‘Dos Santos’ and Jefferson da Silva Lima were also arrested.
Amarildo was seen by witnesses in a boat following Phillips and Pereira at high speed before they disappeared.
Local police found traces of blood on his boat and personal effects of the two missing men near ‘Pelado’s’ house.
They also seized firearm cartridges and an oar during a search last summer.
The bodies of Perira and Phillips were discovered by Brazilian officials on June 15 and later identified and returned to their families.
Amarildo da Costa de Oliveira, nicknamed Pelado, also confessed to shooting Phillips and Pereira and has been under arrest since the early June killings.
Heavily armed federal officers herded one of the suspects into a boat and into the river where missing British journalist Dom Phillips and indigenous expert Bruno Pereira disappeared.
In a statement shared by the Associated Press, UNIVAJA, the local indigenous association that employed Pereira, said it believed there were other top planners behind the killings who had not been arrested.
Activists agree, saying they believe the case is far from over.
‘Who finances these people so they can continue their illegal activities?’ said Eliesio Marubo, a lawyer who works in an indigenous association, speaking with the New York Times.
‘The federal police did not answer that. We need a deeper investigation,” Marubo said.
In the photo, the Brazilian activists ask: “Who ordered the murder of Dom and Bruno?”
Indigenous activists have also demanded justice as violence against them increases.