A suspect confessed his involvement in the disappearance and murder of an Indigenous expert and a British journalist in a remote region of the Amazon, according to a federal police investigator, and then led detectives to where the remains were buried.

Police stated at a news conference in the Amazonian city of Manaus on Wednesday that the prime suspect in the case had confessed to the murders of British journalist Dom Phillips and Indigenous expert Bruno Pereira on Tuesday night and described the circumstances surrounding their disappearance on June 5.

Eduardo Alexandre Fontes, a federal investigator, reported that Amarildo da Costa de Oliveira, 41, also known as Pelado, confessed to using a handgun to murder Pereira of Brazil and a British freelance journalist Phillips.

Torres stated that Pelado led police to a location where human remains were retrieved on Wednesday. Torres noted that the remains had not yet been positively identified.

"We found the bodies three kilometres into the woods," said the investigator.

He stated that other arrests would be made in the case soon.

Another officer, Guilherme Torres of the Amazonas state police, stated that the boat of the missing men had not yet been located but that authorities knew the region where the criminals allegedly buried it.

"They put bags of dirt on the boat so it would sink," he added.

Colleagues of Pereira held a vigil outside the headquarters of the Brazilian government's Indigenous affairs agency in Brasilia as federal police announced a news conference.

Pereira was absent from the organization.

Grim conclusion

The police claim indicates a tragic conclusion to a case that has sparked worldwide worry, looming over President Jair Bolsonaro at a regional gathering and causing disquiet in the British Parliament on Wednesday.

Phillips, a freelance journalist who has written for the Guardian and the Washington Post, was conducting research for a book with Pereira, the former head of isolated and newly contacted tribes at the federal Indigenous affairs agency Funai.

They were in the Javari Valley, a remote jungle region near the border with Colombia and Peru that is home to the most significant number of uncontacted Indigenous people in the world. The territory has been overrun by illegal fishermen, hunters, loggers, and miners, and authorities consider it a central drug trafficking corridor.

Moments after Phillips and Pereira went by on June 5, returning to the riverside village of Atalaia do Norte, the brothers were seen meeting on the Itacoai river, according to a report obtained by Reuters.

According to the police report, witnesses heard Pereira state that Pelado had threatened him.

Pereira, a former official for the Indigenous affairs agency Funai, was essential in preventing illegal gold mining and poaching on rivers inhabited by Javari Indigenous communities.