Illegal Fishing Boss Named as Alleged ‘Mastermind’ of Journo’s Amazon Murder

Authorities in Brazil have identified the man they believe to have orchestrated the assassinations of British journalist Dom Phillips and indigenous expert Bruno Pereira as Rubens Villar Coelho, according to The Guardian. Known as “Colômbia,” Villar Coelho at one point was identified as the head of an illegal fishing operation in a protected patch of the Amazon’s Javari Valley, near where Phillips and Pereira went missing last June. “I have no doubt that Colômbia was the mastermind,” Alexandre Fontes, the federal police chief for Amazonas state, reportedly said at a Monday press conference. Villar Coelho has long been suspected to be linked to Phillips and Pereira’s murders. He was arrested last July on unrelated charges after presenting himself for questioning in the case. He was released in October, only to be rearrested two months later for alleged bail violations. Three other men in custody—identified as Amarildo da Costa Oliveira, Jefferson da Silva Lima and Oseney da Costa de Oliveira—are suspected of having carried out the executions.