FILED

Alleged Crime Boss Charged With Ordering British Journalist’s Murder

He’s also been accused of arranging Indigenous expert Bruno Pereira’s murder.

Authorities in Brazil have charged the alleged leader of an illegal fishing operation with ordering the murders of Dom Phillips and Bruno Pereira, according to reports. British journalist Phillips and Pereira—an expert on the Indigenous peoples of Brazil—were shot dead in June 2022 while returning from a reporting trip in the Javari valley region along the Peruvian border. Although three people have already been charged with the killings, Brazilian broadcaster TV Globo on Sunday night reported that two other men have now been charged in connection with the slayings. According to The Guardian, Ruben Dario da Silva Villar, known by the nickname “Colombia,” allegedly led a transnational criminal fishing syndicate and has been accused of ordering the murders and the hiding of the bodies. One of Silva Villar’s alleged henchmen, Jânio Freitas de Souza, has also been charged with being involved in both crimes.