The boat used by murdered British journalist Dom Phillips and Brazilian indigenous expert Bruno Pereira to travel through the Amazon rainforest has been found, police have said as they continue to investigate the double killing.

The speedboat was submerged about 20 metres (65ft) deep under the Itacoai River in northern Brazil, weighed down with six sandbags.

Authorities said they were led to the site of the sunken vessel by the latest suspect in the killings, Jeferson da Silva Lima, or ‘Pelado da Dinha’, who surrendered himself to police on Saturday.

The latest find comes as police announced five new suspects they believe helped hide the pair’s bodies after they died.

Police did not name the new suspects, adding in a short statement that ongoing investigations aim to “clarify all the circumstances, motives and those involved in the case”.

The pair disappeared in one of the remotest corners of the rainforest just days after Mr Pereira received threats from loggers and miners in the region.

The two men were in the Sao Rafael community and were returning by boat to the nearby city of Atalaia do Norte, when they vanished.

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Their bodies were found 10 days later, with an autopsy suggesting they were killed by a “firearm with typical hunting ammunition”.

Three men have already been arrested.

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Mr Phillips has reported on Brazil for more than 15 years for newspapers including The Guardian, the Washington Post, the New York Times and the Financial Times.

He had been researching a book about the Amazon and its environmental defenders.

The wild and lawless region has lured cocaine-smuggling gangs, along with illegal loggers, miners and hunters.

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