Bruno and Dom: Crime mastermind is suspect of having ordered public servant murder in 2019

The Federal Police is investigating the possible participation of Ruben Dario da Silva Villar, known as Colombia, in the death of Maxciel Pereira dos Santos, a FUNAI [Brazilian indigenous peoples agency] employee, in Tabatinga (AM), in September 2019. He is already suspected of having been the mastermind of the deaths of British journalist Dom Phillips and indigenist Bruno Pereira, last year.

Investigations are trying to assess whether Colombia hired the gunmen to kill the FUNAI employee. The line of investigation is that they would have crossed the triple border with neighboring countries to commit the crime at the behest of Colombia. No suspects have yet been arrested for the crimes.

The investigation was reopened in September 2021, three months after Bruno and Dom’s deaths, and is under secrecy. The police team found several coincidences between the group accused of the double murder and the attack on Maxciel, who worked alongside Bruno in the fight against illegal fishing and mining in Vale do Javari in 2019. According to the. In the past, the police had suggested the archiving of the investigations, but the Federal Public Prosecutor was against it and the investigation was resumed after pressure from Maxciel’s relatives and the international repercussion of Bruno and Dom’s deaths.