Family members of the only person arrested in connection with the disappearance of a British journalist and Indigenous official in the Amazon claimed on Friday that he was innocent and that police were torturing him to get a confession.

Dom Phillips, a freelance writer, and Bruno Pereira, an Indigenous official, were last seen on Sunday morning in the Javari Valley, the second-largest Indigenous territory in Brazil, an isolated region bordering Peru and Colombia. The two men were located in the Sao Rafael neighborhood. They returned to the adjacent city of Atalaia do Norte via boat, but they never arrived.

The accusations of Amarildo da Costa de Oliveira's family, commonly known as Pelado, were the most recent development in a disappearance that has received international interest, a search involving multiple agencies, and criticism of Brazilian authorities for their reportedly tardy response. The family's assertions were revealed to The Associated Press a day after witnesses contradicted the family's statements regarding de Oliveira.

De Oliveira was arrested on Tuesday at his residence in the riverside village of So Gabriel, close to where the two were reported missing on Sunday. Initially, he was detained for unlawful gun possession, but police now consider him a suspect in the disappearance. He was being held at the Atalaia do Norte police station.

Friday, 41-year-old fisherman Osenei da Costa de Oliveira reported that he had visited his brother in jail.

"He told me he was at home when he was handcuffed," Osenei da Costa de Oliveira said outside the police station where his brother was detained. "They then placed him on a boat and began their journey to Atalaia do Norte. When they reached the Curupira river, they transferred him to a different ship. Then they beat him, subjected him to torture, submerged his head in water, stepped on his leg, and pepper-sprayed his face. They also drugged him twice, but I have no idea with what.

Osenei da Costa de Oliveira stated, "They wanted him to confess, but he's innocent."

The public security secretariat of the state of Amazonas, which handles local police, stated that it would not comment on the family's allegations because the Federal Police were now investigating the disappearance. A request for comment received through email to the Federal Police on Friday went unanswered.

The Brazilian government is under intense pressure to locate Phillips and Pereira. A rising number of celebrities, lawmakers, civil society organizations, and international news organizations have demanded that the police, army, and navy assist in the hunt.

Maria de Fátima da Costa, the mother of Amarildo da Costa de Oliveira, stated that she was at the Atalaia do Norte port when her son arrived with police. She stated that he was pulled from the boat wearing a hood, could scarcely walk on his own, and was drenched in water.

"I informed the police that he was not a criminal deserving of such treatment," she told the AP.

She further stated that the blood allegedly discovered in her son's boat was likely from a pig he slaughtered a few days before his detention. According to authorities, the blood was being examined in a laboratory.

In a statement released Friday, the Federal Police stated that they were also studying human remains discovered in the Itaquai River near the port of Atalaia do Norte. No further information was offered.

Indigenous guards with Pereira and Phillips the day before their disappearance told the Associated Press on Thursday that de Oliveira and two other keepers had displayed firearms at them. Paulo Marubo, the president of the Univaja indigenous association in the Javari Valley, also told the AP that Phillips photographed the men at the time.

The family of the suspect also contested the accusation of flaunting weapons. Francisco Conceico de Freitas, the father-in-law of de Oliveira, stated that he and his son-in-law were on a fishing boat together and that de Oliveira waved an oar, not a weapon, towards the group that included Phillips and Pereira. De Freitas stated that his son-in-law did this because they felt frightened by the armed guards and wanted it to appear like they were also armed. Weapon ownership, both legitimately and illegally, is prevalent in Amazon.

The family stated that they had not engaged in illegal fishing or hunting in the Javari Valley Indigenous Territory, an area notorious for such activities. The family further said that de Oliveira has no criminal record and that his only previous contact with law enforcement was a few hours of detention on the erroneous suspicion that he was trafficking drugs.

Phillips and Pereira spoke with people just outside the designated area but never entered, according to various regional interviews conducted by the Associated Press.

The Amazonas state police have been accused of extrajudicial killings and illegal raids for a long time. Since Governor Wilson Lima assumed office in 2019, three local police officers have been murdered in three separate incidents. One of these, in October 2020, resulted in 17 deaths in the Amazonian metropolis Manaus. In all three incidents, police denied wrongdoing.

The closest major city nearby Atalaia do Norte, Tabatinga, was implicated in seven extrajudicial killings last year, according to the Brazilian newspaper Folha de S.Paulo. Some victims were tortured, and their families were threatened with death. The authorities never responded to the allegations.

Phillips, 57, has been reporting from Brazil for over a decade and is currently writing a book about the preservation of the Amazon.

Pereira has long served the Brazilian agency for indigenous affairs in Javari Valley. Before leaving on leave to assist local Indigenous people in their defense against illegal fishers and poachers, he headed their regional office and coordinated with isolated Indigenous communities. Pereira had received threats for his job for years.