Brazilian Police Arrest Alleged Mastermind of Amazon Murders

On Tuesday, the Brazilian federal police caught the alleged mastermind behind the murders of British journalist Dom Phillips and Brazilian ethnologist Bruno Araujo, who were killed in the Javari valley in the Amazon basin in June.

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Aka "Colombia", who had previously been arrested but was released, remained a fugitive from justice due to a process against him, in which he is accused of being the leader of a criminal association dedicated to illegal fishing.

The Federal police explained that the Brazilian authorities are still not clear about aka Colombia's true identity and nationality.

When he was linked to the death of the journalist and the etnologist, aka Colombia appeared before the authorities with both a Peruvian ID and a Brazilian ID. In the latter, he appeared under the name of Rubens Villar Coelho.

The tweet reads, "The suspect in the murder of Bruno and Dom is released. Rubens Villar Coelho, aka Colombia, posted R$15 million bail."

Authorities later identified him as Ruben Dario da Silva Villar, a Colombian citizen. These data, however, have not been fully verified either.

In October, aka Colombia was released after paying about US$3,000 and agreeing to wear an electronic anklet and stay in Manaus, the capital city of Amazonas state. The suspect breached those conditions and remained a fugitive.

The British journalist Phillips and the Brazilian ethnologist Pereira disappeared on June 5 in the Javari Valley near the border with Peru, when they were on their way to visit an Indigenous monitoring team so the journalist could do some interviews.