People protest outside the Ministry of Justice in Brasilia, Brazil on June 14, 2022 over missing British journalist Dom Phillips and Brazilian Indigenous affairs specialist Bruno Pereira. Photo: AFP

Brazilian police said Monday they had found the boat in which British journalist Dom Phillips and his Brazilian expert guide Bruno Pereira were traveling before they were killed in the Amazon.

The boat was found Sunday night some 20 meters under water and 30 meters from the right bank of the Itaquai River, packed with six sandbags to keep it submerged, federal police said in a statement.

The vessel will now be searched for clues.

Veteran correspondent Phillips, 57, and Pereira, 41, went missing on June 5 in a remote part of the rainforest rife with illegal mining, fishing and logging, as well as drug trafficking.

Ten days later, on Wednesday, a suspect named Amarildo da Costa de Oliveira - known as "Pelado" - took police to a place where he said he had buried bodies near the city of Atalaia do Norte, where the pair had been headed by boat.    

Human remains found at the spot were brought to Brasilia for examination and confirmed to belong to the two missing men. On Saturday, police said they had been shot. 

A third suspect handed himself over to police, and told investigators where to find the boat. A boat engine and four drums belonging to Pereira were also found, the police statement said.

Five more people believed to have been involved in concealing the bodies have been identified, it added. 

Last week, police said the men's killers had acted on their own initiative and not as part of a criminal group - a conclusion rejected by the Univaja Indigenous association, which had participated in the search. 

Univaja claims that "a powerful criminal organization... planned the crime down to the smallest detail."

AFP