A boat speeds on the Jurura river in the Brazilian Amazon forest on March 15. Photo: AFP

Police in Brazil said Tuesday they had arrested a second suspect in the disappearance earlier in June of British journalist Dom Phillips and Brazilian indigenous specialist Bruno Pereira.

The federal police said in a statement they had arrested a 41-year-old man identified as Oseney da Costa Oliveira, whom they said was "suspected of participating in the affair."

Brazilian media said he was the brother of the first suspect to be detained in the case, fisherman Amarildo da Costa Oliveira, also 41 and nicknamed "Pelado."

Witnesses said they saw Amarildo pass at high speed onboard a boat going in the same direction as the boat in which Phillips and Pereira were traveling before their disappearance.
 
Traces of blood on his boat are being analyzed, and personal effects of the two missing men were found underwater near the home of "Pelado," who was arrested on June 7 and has denied any involvement. 

Police said Tuesday they had also seized firearm cartridges and an oar, without specifying whether the objects were found in the same place where the latest suspect was arrested.

Veteran freelance journalist Phillips, 57, has worked in Brazil for the past 15 years. 

Pereira, 41, is an expert who was on leave from his job with the Brazilian government's Indigenous affairs agency Funai, and a well-known advocate for these communities. 

AFP