The investigators working on the case of Bruno Pereira and Dom Phillips revealed anonymously that the activities of illegal fishing and hunting are related to the disappearance of the two.
Members of the Federal Police and Civil Police in Amazonas also reported that they increased the number of suspects.
For the Civil Police, the location of Pereira and Phillips' belongings, tied up in an igapó — an area of forest flooded by water, on the bank of the river — reinforces the hypothesis that there was a crime. The most likely motivation, said investigators, is the constant conflict between illegal fishers and leaders who defend the indigenous territory.
Police officers are also investigating an alleged funding of illegal fishing and hunting activity by drug trafficking in the region, a problem common to virtually the entire triple border of Brazil with Peru and Colombia.
Translated by Kiratiana Freelon