A second man has been arrested following the disappearance of British journalist Dom Phillips and his companion in the Amazon rainforest.
Phillips and Bruno Pereira, a Brazilian indigenous expert, disappeared more than a week ago on a remote stretch of the Itaquai River.
Police say the second man, Oseney da Costa de Oliveira, is the brother of the first man who was arrested.
Amarildo da Costa de Oliveira, nicknamed Pelado, remains in custody as the main suspect in the case.
Describing the latest arrest, police investigator Alex Perez said: “The arrest on suspicion of murder was not resisted based on witnesses who placed the two suspects at the alleged crime scene.”
Ammunition and an oar were also confiscated, but detectives have not confirmed why these items were confiscated, where they were found or to whom they belong.
Phillips, 57, and Pereira, 41, were last seen on June 5 near the entrance to the Javari Valley Indigenous Territory, which borders Peru and Colombia.
The brothers, both 41-year-old fishermen, are being held at the nearest police station in Atalaia do Norte.
Pelado fired a rifle at Phillips and Pereira the day before they disappeared, according to the natives who were with them.
He denies doing anything wrong and claims that the military police tortured him to obtain a confession, his family said.
The search for Mr. Phillips and Mr. Pereira seems to be nearing completion, as the search area becomes smaller.
“We understand that we are going to the end”
Eliesio Marubo, a lawyer who has been helping to find the men, said the discovery of evidence had helped narrow the search.
“We understand we’re going to the end,” he said.
Police found a backpack, laptop and other personal items in a river on Sunday and it was reported that the bodies of the men had also been found, although officers denied it on Monday.
Read more: Officials link the disappearance of a British journalist in Brazil with the “fish mafia”. Search teams find “apparently human” remains where British journalist last seen
The area where Mr Phillips and Mr Pereira went missing has been shaken by violent clashes between fishermen, poachers and the government.
Pereira previously headed the local office of the government’s indigenous agency, known as Funai, and has been involved in several operations against illegal fishing.
There has also been violence when gangs are fighting for control of waterways to send cocaine.
The Javari Valley has seven known indigenous groups, some of which have only recently been contacted, and at least 11 uncontacted groups, giving it the largest concentration of isolated tribes in the world.