Suspect held as Brazil steps up search for missing British journalist and researcher

Concerns are growing over the fate of Dom Phillips and Bruno Araújo Pereira, who were first reported missing in the Javari Valley, in the far western part of Amazonas state on Sunday. They had reportedly received death threats just days prior.In a news conference Wednesday, Amazonas state security secretary general Carlos Alberto Mansur said the suspect remains under investigation in police custody.Mansur said the man was arrested after being found in possession of “a lot of drugs” and ammunition used for illegal hunting. Authorities said Wednesday they were pursuing several lines of investigation, including homicide, and added they still “can’t rule out anything.” On Wednesday, Federal Police Superintendent Fontes described the area where Phillips and Pereira went missing as “complicated” and “dangerous.”Phillips and Pereira had traveled to the region to conduct research for a book on conservation efforts there. Phillips, an Amazon specialist, had previously reported for British newspaper The Guardian on threats posed by illegal mining and cattle ranchers to uncontacted indigenous groups in the region.Despite being under government protection, the Javari Valley can be a hostile environment for journalists and indigenous rights activists. According to Brazil’s Public Prosecutor’s Office, an indigenous affairs worker was murdered in the area in September 2019. “In this region, violence is advancing in an increasingly uncontrolled manner in the context of the invasion of indigenous lands and lands that belong to the state, repression of the freedom of press and the work of journalists,” UNIVAJA said in a statement.In 2018, Phillips reported on the threats posed by illegal mining and cattle ranchers to uncontacted indigenous groups there, with Pereira at the heart of that article.Survival International, an NGO that advocates for indigenous peoples, said Pereira had previously received “many threats” as a result of his work as an “ally of the Indigenous struggle.”Tara Subramaniam wrote from Washington, DC. Camilo Rocha and Marcia Reverdosa reported from Sao Paulo, Brazil.