Brazilian police have indicted a Colombian fish trader as the person who planned the slaying of Indigenous expert Bruno Pereira and British journalist Dom Phillips in the Amazon in 2022, they announced Monday.
The statement did not name the accused, but a police officer told the The Associated Press that it is Ruben Dario da Silva Villar and a second source with direct knowledge of the indictment confirmed this. Da Silva Villar is accused of supplying the ammunition used in the crime and assisting in hiding the bodies.
In testimony, he has denied any wrongdoing.
Da Silva Villar has been in jail since July 2022, one month after the two men were killed as they travelled by boat on the Itaquai River.
According to the federal police investigation, da Silva Villar financed an illegal fishing operation inside the Javari Valley Indigenous Territories, …