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'Apparently human' remains found where British journalist vanished: Brazil police

'Apparently human' remains found where British journalist vanished: Brazil police

Brazil

Police in Brazil said on Friday that search teams have found "apparently human" remains in the river where a British reporter was seen last in the Amazon rainforest. This may be the biggest break yet in the five-day investigation.

Federal police said that the "organic material" was being sent for forensic analysis. Blood found on a suspect's boat, which will be compared with genetic material from journalist Dom Phillips, will also be sent for forensic analysis. Phillips was accompanied by a travel companian, indigenous expert Bruno Pereira.

A Brazilian judge had ordered the suspect, a fisherman charged with illegal possession of restricted ammunition, to be held for another 30 days while police investigate whether he is involved, according to a lawyer for a local indigenous group.

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State Judge Jacinta Silva dos Santos said the proceedings are under seal and she could not comment on whether other audiences are planned for the fisherman Amarildo da Costa, known locally as "Pelado."

Police have said Costa was one of the last people to see Phillips and Pereira on Sunday, when they went missing after visiting the fisherman's riverside community of Sao Gabriel.

Eliesio Morubo, the lawyer for the Union of Indigenous Peoples of the Javari Valley (UNIVAJA), said the judge agreed to keep the fisherman jailed for 30 days because the case involved a possible "heinous crime" such as murder and hiding bodies.

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