The bodies of British journalist Dom Phillips and Brazilian expert Bruno Pereira, shot dead on June 5 in the Amazon, were returned to their families on Thursday June 23, while a fourth suspect surrendered to the authorities.

The double murder took place on June 5, when the two men were returning by boat from an expedition to the Javari Valley, a reputedly dangerous region on the edge of the Brazilian Amazon, near the triple border with Peru and Colombia. .

The funeral of Bruno Pereira, 41, an expert on indigenous peoples, will take place on Friday in Recife, in Pernambuco (northeast).

The funeral wake and the cremation of the British journalist are scheduled for Sunday in Niteroi, near Rio de Janeiro (southeast).

His widow, Brazilian Alessandra Sampaio, sent the press a photo of her holding her husband's wedding ring, which police found with his body.

Fourth suspect arrested

On Thursday, 26-year-old Gabriel Dantas showed up at a Sao Paulo police station and told officers he was in the motorboat of the first suspect arrested, Amarildo Oliveira, during the attack on Dom Phillips and Bruno Pereira, according to excerpts of his testimony published by several Brazilian media.

He explained that Oliveira had asked him to drive the boat, without revealing to him in advance the place or the reason for the trip.

When they arrived alongside the boat of the journalist and the indigenous peoples expert, "he (Oliveira) shot them with a 16-caliber rifle," said Gabriel Dantas.

He also admitted to having helped transport the bodies to the place where they were buried, specifying that other individuals had done the same.

On Monday, the Federal Police said they had identified "five other people who allegedly took part in the concealment of the corpses", while three suspects had been arrested.

With AFP

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