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ogopogo3 Just a CabbageHead Joined: 25 Oct 2001 Total posts: 1684 Location: Minnesota Age: 41 Gender: Male |
 Posted: 31-07-2003 10:09 Post subject: Possible break in Muti murder case |
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http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/crime/story.jsp?story=428573
A group of suspected child traffickers was arrested in London today in a dramatic dawn offensive involving more than 200 police officers.
A total of 21 people were detained in the operation launched by detectives investigating the murder of a young boy whose torso was found floating in the River Thames.
Police believe they have smashed a crime network responsible for smuggling African children in to the UK.
Officers swooped on nine addresses in east and south-east London during the early hours.
Most of those detained are Nigerian nationals and they were arrested on suspicion of immigration, people trafficking and passport offences.
They are suspected of bringing in youngsters and adults via Europe - the route they believe was followed by the murder victim, known as Adam, discovered near Tower Bridge in September 2001.
Detective Inspector Will O'Reilly, leading the Adam inquiry, said this morning: "This is the trafficking side of the Adam investigation and it is significant and important to that inquiry as a whole.
"We've uncovered what we believe is a criminal network concentrating on people trafficking, particularly from mainland Africa through Europe to the UK.
"We don't know how many children are involved in this operation but it's certainly in the hundreds, if not the thousands, coming from mainland Africa into the UK."
Commander Andy Baker, of Scotland Yard, said children brought into the UK on false documents are often used to carry out an elaborate benefit fraud, "slave" labour or used in the sex industry.
Many arrive at airports travelling alone and escape the attention of the authorities because they are travelling on British passports which are either stolen or forgeries.
Detectives believe the children are given false identities and are passed around adults claiming to be their parents to make bogus child benefit claims.
Those arrested in today's operation will be DNA tested to see if there is any family link with Adam.
The unknown boy, named by detectives, was aged between four and seven and had been mutilated in what police believe was a ritualistic sacrifice, possibly by the African black magic "muti" cult.
His torso measured just 18 inches by eight inches and was discovered naked apart from a pair of orange shorts which could only be bought in Woolworths stores in Germany.
Detectives used groundbreaking forensic techniques to establish he was from a region of south-west Nigeria between Benin City and Ibadan.
The majority of those arrested today were believed to be from the Benin City area.
Earlier this month, a Nigerian man was interviewed by police in connection with Adam's death.
Sam Onojhighovie, aged 37, appeared at Dublin's High Court as part of a bid to extradite him to Germany, where he has already been convicted in his absence and sentenced to seven years for offences linked to human trafficking.
Detective Inspector O'Reilly has spoken to Onojhighovie and requested a DNA test, believing he could be the boy's natural father.
He is thought to be the estranged husband of Joyce Osagiede, who was arrested in connection with the murder a year ago in Glasgow. She was not charged and was later returned to Nigeria.
The inquiry, codenamed Operation Swalcliff, has seen detectives hunting for Adam's true identity and his killers in several countries and an appeal for help by former South African President Nelson Mandela. |
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| Mighty_Emperor Divine Wind
Joined: 18 Aug 2002 Total posts: 19943 Location: Mongo Age: 42 Gender: Male |
| Posted: 16-10-2003 17:09 Post subject: Calabar bean |
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Some interesting developments connected with the calabar bean:
| Quote: | BEAN CLUE IN TORSO CASE
Police investigating the 'Thames torso' murder believe they may be close to solving the case.
The headless and limbless body of the victim, called Adam by detectives, was found in the river near Tower Bridge in September 2001.
Analysis of the mineral content of Adam's bones showed he had been brought up in a particular area of Nigeria.
Now a substance in his stomach has been identified at Kew Gardens as the highly poisonous calabar bean - given to suspected witches in West Africa.
Police believe the bean may have been used to subdue Adam before he was killed in a bizarre ritual.
Sky News Crime Correspondent Martin Brunt says detectives are hoping to extradite a number of suspects from Nigeria and Ireland.
Several arrests were made in the summer but there are complications because of the suspects' involvement in other cases.
"Detectives are more confident than ever of solving the crime. They have never given hope, even though it looked impossible at first," said Brunt.
Detectives say Adam was aged between four and six and was alive when he was brought to London from Nigeria.
Last Updated: 09:22 UK, Thursday October 16, 2003 |
http://www.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30100-12829630,00.html
other news on his:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/london/3195926.stm
http://www.itv.com/news/1286679.html
and a nice overview on the bean:
| Quote: | Deadly Bean Used in Witchcraft Trials
By Caroline Gammell, PA News
The deadly poisonous calabar bean – also known as the Ordeal Bean or Doomsday Plant – was once used to hunt down witches.
Anyone accused of dabbling in the supernatural was forced to eat a crushed sample of the purple-coloured bean.
If a person was innocent, their body would react and vomit up the treacherous bean within half an hour.
But if a person died from eating the calabar, it proved and punished their guilt.
When the bean – which has no taste or smell – is ground into a powder and served with water, it can kill a human within an hour.
The calabar bean is derived from a west African woody vine in the pea family which stretches up to 50ft high.
In spring, the inch-thick vine produces long wisteria-style clusters of purple flowers which fall to the ground, leaving six-inch brown seedpods to develop.
When these pods ripen, they split to reveal two– or three-inch purple-brown seeds, known as beans.
The kidney-shaped beans, also known as Esere, were also used in a form of tribal duelling – two opponents would divide a bean in half and eat it – but often this level of poison would kill both adversaries.
When the British colonised western Africa, they disapproved of the witchcraft trial and banned the growing of the beans.
By the middle of the 19th century they outlawed the use of the bean completely, but it is still used in some tribal rituals to this day.
Calabar beans were first introduced into Britain in 1840 and planted in the Edinburgh Botanical Gardens in 1846.
In 1863, the medical attributes of the deadly bean were examined by Sir Thomas Fraser.
It has since been cultivated in medicine and is the source of the drug physostigmine which is a powerful stimulant of muscular contractions.
Calabar beans kill by contracting the heart, the diaphragm and the pulmonary muscles to rigid paralysis.
In medicine, this controlled contraction can be used to stimulate the muscles after surgery as well as in ophthalmology.
Physostigmine is a miotic which causes the pupil of the eye to contract and helps to reverse the build-up of pressure inside the eye that can lead to blindness from the disease glaucoma.
Physostigmine is also currently being studied in connection with Alzheimer’s disease.
Chemicals derived from the bean have previously been used in agricultural insecticides and chemical warfare nerve gases. |
http://www.news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=2058324
[edit: See also:
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/articles/7206466?source=Evening%20Standard
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/articles/7206531 ]
Emps
Last edited by Mighty_Emperor on 03-04-2004 14:01; edited 1 time in total |
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| McAvennie_ OBE Joined: 13 Mar 2003 Total posts: 2678 Location: Paris, France Age: 34 Gender: Male |
| Posted: 16-10-2003 18:00 Post subject: |
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On the general topic of things being washed up in the Thames I remember on a visit to the London Aquarium last year that they had a cabinet containing 'junk' washed up from the Thames. In it was watches, mobiles, jewellery, wallets. Made me think how many of these items were not just lost property but potential evidence in missing persons cases? Perhaps the stuff they had was given over from the police after it had been checked and eliminated. Doubt it though.
Wonder if they found the guy who jumped off Tower Bridge yesterday in front of the Blaine watchers yet? |
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liveinabin1 Great Old One Joined: 19 Oct 2001 Total posts: 2140 Location: insert witty comment here Gender: Female |
| Posted: 16-10-2003 19:32 Post subject: Adam |
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Thought you might like to know that there is a program on radio 4 at 8:00 about the investigation in to the headless and limbless body of a boy found in the Thames. Hereis a link to the listing. If you are out side to uk or you want to listen on you computer then you can find a link to "Listen Live" at the top of the page.
If you have missed it then it may be on "listen again". |
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| rynner Location: Still above sea level Gender: Male |
| Posted: 16-10-2003 20:53 Post subject: |
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| 2 more threadlets merged here...! |
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| Mighty_Emperor Divine Wind
Joined: 18 Aug 2002 Total posts: 19943 Location: Mongo Age: 42 Gender: Male |
| Posted: 12-02-2004 14:00 Post subject: |
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| Quote: | Boy's eyes plucked out in withcraft ceremony
February 11, 2004 - 8:09AM
Four Nigerian men were charged with plucking out the eyes of a 13-year-old schoolboy for use in witchcraft, the state news agency reported today.
They face charges ranging from criminal conspiracy to grievous bodily harm and permanent disfigurement for the attack on the boy, who was taken to hospital in the north-eastern state of Bauchi.
Police suspect the attack was commissioned by one of the defendants to make a charm believed to make people invisible.
The case will be heard by an Islamic court in Bauchi on February 18, the News Agency of Nigeria said.
If found guilty, the defendants could have their own eyes removed under the Islamic sharia code, the agency added.
Bauchi is one of 12 predominantly Muslim states in northern Nigeria which adopted sharia law five years ago.
- Reuters |
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/02/11/1076388395599.html
Last edited by Mighty_Emperor on 19-02-2004 00:16; edited 1 time in total |
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| Mighty_Emperor Divine Wind
Joined: 18 Aug 2002 Total posts: 19943 Location: Mongo Age: 42 Gender: Male |
| Posted: 14-02-2004 22:38 Post subject: |
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Grim story:
| Quote: | Organ traffickers 'threaten' nuns
Four Catholic nuns say they have received death threats after exposing an organ trafficking network allegedly operating in northern Mozambique.
The traffickers are said to target the sex organs of children, which are sold to make magic charms.
The nuns from the Sisters Servants of Mary Immaculate order say they have gathered evidence of the trade.
They say they have spoken to victims who managed to escape and photos of dead children with missing organs.
'Orphans targeted'
Ritual murders have been reported in many African countries, as some witchdoctors say using human organs in magic charms makes them more powerful.
These are believed by some to bring financial or sexual success to those who use them.
"We have received some very clear threats," order spokeswoman Sister Juliana told Portuguese radio.
"Several countries are involved in this iniquitous game and the victims are the poor, those who have no voice or defence, or the strength to defend themselves, we are convinced that Nampula is part of an international ring," said Sister Juliana.
She said there have been several attempts to abduct children from the orphanage they run in Nampula.
Mozambican, South African, Brazilian and Portuguese nationals were involved in the ring, she said.
The BBC's Jose Tembe in Mozambique says the government had sent a team of investigators to the area to probe claims of the existence of the network.
The organs are reportedly smuggled into neighbouring Zimbabwe and South Africa.
The Spanish Embassy in Mozambique is also investigating the claims after receiving reports from the nuns, who have lived in the area for 30 years.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/africa/3483581.stm
Published: 2004/02/13 10:40:47 GMT
© BBC MMIV |
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| Alexius4 Alemdar i Nizam i Djedid Gender: Male |
| Posted: 14-02-2004 23:15 Post subject: |
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I'm surprised the Matamoros murders haven't cropped up on the thread yet. 'Crime Library' holds an account: in short, a charasmatic practitioner of West African magic killed a number of people in the manner described to provide drugs runners with charms.
He came unstuck when he picked up and murdered a wealthy American college boy - he was tracked down and killed in a shoot-out with the police. |
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| Mighty_Emperor Divine Wind
Joined: 18 Aug 2002 Total posts: 19943 Location: Mongo Age: 42 Gender: Male |
| Posted: 14-02-2004 23:24 Post subject: |
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| Alexius wrote: |
I'm surprised the Matamoros murders haven't cropped up on the thread yet. 'Crime Library' holds an account: in short, a charasmatic practitioner of West African magic killed a number of people in the manner described to provide drugs runners with charms.
He came unstuck when he picked up and murdered a wealthy American college boy - he was tracked down and killed in a shoot-out with the police. |
This thread has been largely for the strictly Muti killings - the Matmoros murders are mentioned in the Mexican drug runner murders thread:
http://www.forteantimes.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=13065
Emps |
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| Mighty_Emperor Divine Wind
Joined: 18 Aug 2002 Total posts: 19943 Location: Mongo Age: 42 Gender: Male |
| Posted: 16-02-2004 20:19 Post subject: |
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Not a muti murder but very similar (if someone wants to move this to Strange Deaths then feel free):
| Quote: | Boy sacrificed at brick kiln
Patna, Feb. 14: A five-year-old boy was kidnapped and sacrificed at a brick kiln at Dhuranbigaha village in Bihar’s Aurangabad district.
Vikas Kumar, the son of a labourer, was allegedly thrown into a fire after his eyes were pierced, tongue and ears cut off and throat slit.
Two kiln workers, one of them a tantrik, had gone around the village saying they were looking for a healthy male goat to sacrifice to keep the kiln fire burning.
Vikas was found to be missing on February 5 and was probably killed on the evening of February 9. His body was recovered from under a haystack by villagers two days later. |
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1040215/asp/frontpage/story_2898103.asp |
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| Mighty_Emperor Divine Wind
Joined: 18 Aug 2002 Total posts: 19943 Location: Mongo Age: 42 Gender: Male |
| Posted: 19-02-2004 00:15 Post subject: |
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| Quote: | Assessors Clear Girl, 15, of Bizarre Murder
The East African Standard (Nairobi)
February 17, 2004
Posted to the web February 17, 2004
Francis Ngige
Nairobi
Assessors yesterday cleared a fifteen-year-old-girl charged with the murder of her two cousins whose bodies were dismembered.
The three assessors were unanimous in their verdict of not guilty against the minor (name withheld) who was alleged to have committed the bizarre crime two years ago.
Paul Kibugi, Stanley Ng'ang'a and Evans Mureu told trial judge Muga Apondi that the evidence adduced by the prosecution witnesses could not support a conviction.
The assessors said considering her age, the girl could not have murdered her cousins in the grisly manner as it was done.
The girl, represented by lawyer Sally Mbeche, allegedly murdered Moses Gikonyo, three, and Joseph Maina aged five months at Kirima Village in Koibatek District on September 4, 2001.
The assessors said no witness directly linked the minor to the death of the two children.
While summing up the case, Apondi had told the assessors to not only consider the age of the accused but also put into consideration the two lives lost.
During the close of the prosecution case, a doctor testified that he performed an autopsy on the body of Gikonyo and found that some of his body parts were missing.
Dr Christopher Kemboi said the boy's private parts had been chopped off.
Hei said the minor's private parts had been completely removed and that his throat, gullet and a major muscle in the neck were missing.
"I found out that the external genitalia were excised and were missing. The oesophagus, trachea and a major muscle in the neck were also missing," he said.
The neck was almost chopped off and was only joined to the body by some skin and muscle, he said.
Kemboi, who is the Medical Officer of Health(MOH) in charge of Kericho District Hospital, termed the excision as "very precise in both the neck and genital area and that a sharp object was used".
He said that after conducting the postmoterm, he formed the opinion that Gikonyo died due to severe blood loss caused by the excision of his genitalia and neck.
He said Maina, who was found murdered in his mother's bed on the same day, had a mark around his neck.
The judgement will be delivered on March 2
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http://allafrica.com/stories/200402170436.html
It would be very unwise indeed to assume that children of this age aren't capable of such horrific murders but this has 'muti' written all over it (I suppose we shouldn't also rule out that she commited the murder for magical reasons or disguised a more 'mundane' couple of deaths by making it look like a muti murder).
Emps |
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| Mighty_Emperor Divine Wind
Joined: 18 Aug 2002 Total posts: 19943 Location: Mongo Age: 42 Gender: Male |
| Posted: 24-02-2004 14:55 Post subject: Muti on a large scale |
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This nearly went into the War Trophies thread:
http://www.forteantimes.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=12378
but it fitted better in here (although there is an interesting correspondance between the two):
| Quote: | Mutilation horror in DR Congo
At least 100 people, mostly unarmed civilians, have been killed in a wave of horrific attacks in southern Democratic Republic of Congo.
One survivor told the BBC's Arnaud Zaijtman in Lubumbashi that militiamen drained the blood of those they killed and put it into bottles.
"After they had cut off the sexual organs, they walked away with them. They took the victims' blood in flasks," said Claude Panza wa Losol, 22, nursing a bullet wound in his arm in the town's Don Bosco hospital.
The military commander of Katanga province, General Alengbia Nzambe, showed our correspondent pictures of the bodies of seven soldiers who had their faces and genitals cut off.
Our correspondent says that many fighters believe that using the body parts of their victims to make charms will make them more powerful.
Bloodshed fears
The attacks are blamed on a militia led by General "Chinja Chinja" or the Ripper.
Congolese military officials say that he is the last remaining militia leader in the north of Katanga province who is unwilling to integrate into the new Congolese army.
After five years of war, former rebel forces are being merged into a new united army under a peace deal.
Some 10,000 United Nations peacekeepers are in DR Congo to monitor a peace accord but they have not been sent to the scene of the atrocities.
UN spokesman Hamidoun Toure said that verifications were being made.
General Alengbia Nzambe has said that he will neutralise the Ripper.
But an aid worker in the region said that given the atrocities which were committed by the Ripper, he feared that a response from the Congolese army could generate more bloodshed.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/world/africa/3516481.stm
Published: 2004/02/24 12:58:57 GMT
© BBC MMIV |
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| Mighty_Emperor Divine Wind
Joined: 18 Aug 2002 Total posts: 19943 Location: Mongo Age: 42 Gender: Male |
| Posted: 27-02-2004 03:43 Post subject: |
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Pos. along similar lines:
| Quote: | Friday February 27, 2004
The mysterious world of witchcraft
By PHIONAH MWADILO
and GITONGA MARETE
The mood is frenzied. Men and women dance vigorously, stamping their feet and shaking their shoulders to the beat of throbbing drums accompanied by a kayamba. The women's ululations and the cheers of hundreds of spectators fill the air as the dancing party circles in on the kinu (mortar), the focal point of the ritual. The scene is part of a ritual to smoke out witches and wizards in Alidina village in Miritini, Mombasa.
The group dance is performed to put the witchdoctor (whose mission is to counter the work of witches and wizards) into the right mood for exorcising evil spirits. The key player runs up and down agitatedly, spraying the crowd with "treated" water using a flywhisk. He goes into a trance whenever he senses the presence of an evil spell, and at some point appears to be possessed himself when he falls to the ground, gasping for air and writhing as if in pain.
Such scenes have been common lately in Miritini, Mombasa, where a series of mysterious incidents, including deaths, have been attributed to witchcraft.
Witchcraft, those who claim to understand it say, manifests itself in different ways. According to Omar Magozi, an elder in Alidina, "when cats and goats make funny sounds at night, these sounds are intended to lure specific persons to witches’ traps. Witches also use snakes to subdue their victims". He adds: "When you note such signs, you realise you have been targeted by a witch."
Witches are motivated by jealousy and selfishness, asserts Magozi. They are evil people who feel threatened by other people’s development and progress.
So strong is the belief in witchcraft here that many people get charms to ward off evil spirits by consulting waganga (medicine men or witchdoctors). The witchdoctor first diagnoses the problem, a process known in Kiswahili as kupiga ramli, using his supernatural powers, after which he seeks the appropriate remedy.
This may come in the form of a charm to ward off evil spirits, or a process known as kuchanjwa, in which the witchdoctor applies a concoction of herbs to incisions on the "patient's" skin.
Witchdoctors are also believed to provide charms (tego) that can help catch an errant spouse "in the act". According to Magozi, in the olden days when there were few hospitals, children suffering from illnesses like flu, malaria and coughs could easily be treated with a boiled concoction of special herbs.
"The herbs were very effective but when the situation got out of control, we knew that the child had been bewitched so we would seek the services of a medicineman," he explains.
Many locals still hold such beliefs. Miritini residents tell of incidents that might seem far-fetched to others but which they insist are real.
Abdalla Pole, 34, says he never believed in witchcraft until he witnessed it in Kwale six years ago.
"There was a couple that was to wed," he recalls. "Shortly before they exchanged their vows, the bride collapsed and died. There was confusion and a medicineman was quickly called in. He advised that she be buried immediately."
That very night, Pole claims, the witchdoctor led the woman's family through a ritual that saw the groom recover his bride from another man, who had been his love rival. "What we had seen drop dead at the wedding was the spirit of the bride and not the girl herself," Pole says.
There are also chilling stories of how residents have lost loved ones without trace. These people are said to be held hostage by owners of evil spirits known as "majini". Further, it is claimed, those possessed by evil spirits suffer mental breakdowns that cannot be treated using conventional medicine.
At Magosi in Miritini, where 23 people were arrested in connection with witchcraft last month, we meet Omari Mzee, 23, who has been ailing for five months.
His family says he became violent, stopped talking, locked himself in the house and kept knives under his mattress. "When our brother fell sick we took him to Port Reitz hospital for treatment, suspecting that he was mentally sick," says the man's sister, Sophia. "But after tests by the doctors proved inconclusive, some of them advised us to seek alternative treatment, she says.
At Miritini Dome, a village sandwiched between the railway line and Mombasa/Nairobi highway, residents blame witchcraft for underdevelopment. Walking through the village, you come across a mud-walled hut with a makuti roof caving in. Inside the dilapidated shack, children repeat letters and words after their teacher.
"This is a nursery school that cannot progress due to witchcraft," says Matano Salim. "We cannot do business in this condition. The only shop we had here has gone under."
It is against this backdrop that the arrival of witch buster Akiba Bakari late last year was received with joy. Although generally poor, the people of Miritini contributed up to Sh50,000 per village for Akiba’s services, since they believed only he could save them.
"Since Bakari treated our brother, he has improved," Sophia says.
At Miritini Dome, where Bakari began his exorcism, residents say the witchdoctor’s arrival saw all witches in the village take off. At the centre of the village lies a sack of the witches' paraphernalia, known as a donga, that the villagers claim had been used to wreak havoc in their lives.
Matano says his brother, Juma Salim, admitted to have been practicing witchcraft, but gave it up after Bakari "treated" him.
Despite the traditionalists’ conviction that witchcraft exists, Muslims and Christians shun it as the work of the devil. The Chief Kadhi, Sheikh Hammad Kassim, says Islam does not recognise anything related to witchcraft. "If anyone is involved in witchcraft, he will harshly be disciplined by God," he says, quoting a verse from the Quran.
However, Kassim notes that it is possible for witchdoctors to use scripts from the Quran to try to convince people that God helps them. He adds that witchdoctors have made people believe that Islam is associated with witchcraft. "All they are interested in is getting money from desperate Kenyans," he says.
According to Bishop John Njenga of the Mombasa Catholic Diocese, "there is no place for witchcraft in Christianity and I don’t believe in it.
When the Government put a stop to the exorcism exercise in Miritini, residents pleaded for a reversal of the order. They said that witchcraft was rampant in the area and was responsible for the area's underdevelopment.
"We know better and that is why we invited Bakari to come and rid us of witches who have become a menace," says CouncillorHamisi Ndurya. |
http://www.nationaudio.com/News/DailyNation/Supplements/weekend/current/story270220045.htm |
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| Mighty_Emperor Divine Wind
Joined: 18 Aug 2002 Total posts: 19943 Location: Mongo Age: 42 Gender: Male |
| Posted: 28-02-2004 13:07 Post subject: |
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| Emperor wrote: |
Organ traffickers 'threaten' nuns
Four Catholic nuns say they have received death threats after exposing an organ trafficking network allegedly operating in northern Mozambique. |
Seems like it has gone further:
| Quote: | Mozambique 'human organ' nun dead
A Brazilian nun has been found dead in Mozambique after some of her colleagues said they had exposed an organ trafficking network.
Doraci Edinger had reportedly been strangled and beaten in her home in the northern city of Nampula.
The traffickers are said to target the sex organs of children, which are sold to make magic charms.
The nuns from the Sisters Servants of Mary Immaculate said they had received death threats since their report.
On Tuesday, the authorities said they had found no evidence of a trade in human organs.
But the nuns say they have spoken to victims who managed to escape the ring and have photos of dead children with missing organs.
'Powerful charms'
The BBC's Jose Tembe in the capital, Maputo, says that many people believe that a ring does exist and accuse the government of not doing enough to investigate it.
One nun told our correspondent that she was extremely angry at the news of the death in Nampula.
Ritual murders have been reported in many African countries, as some witchdoctors say using human organs in magic charms makes them more powerful.
These are believed by some to bring financial or sexual success to those who use them.
"Several countries are involved in this iniquitous game and the victims are the poor, those who have no voice or defence, or the strength to defend themselves, we are convinced that Nampula is part of an international ring," order spokeswoman Sister Juliana told Portuguese radio earlier this month.
She said there have been several attempts to abduct children from the orphanage they run in Nampula.
Mozambican, South African, Brazilian and Portuguese nationals were involved in the ring, she said.
The organs were reportedly being smuggled into neighbouring Zimbabwe and South Africa.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/africa/3493016.stm
Published: 2004/02/27 12:53:00 GMT
© BBC MMIV |
The sidebar to that report has links to other reports last year on the human skin trade.
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| Mighty_Emperor Divine Wind
Joined: 18 Aug 2002 Total posts: 19943 Location: Mongo Age: 42 Gender: Male |
| Posted: 04-03-2004 16:37 Post subject: |
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Not strictly muti but along the same lines:
| Quote: | March 03, 2004
Witch doctors cause rise in child sacrifices
by Catherine Philp
An Indian villager in a loveless marriage was told that killing his son would solve his problems
AMAR JATAR had long suspected that his wife did not love him. Years of cajoling, words of tenderness and finally beatings failed to elicit any signs of affection.
So he did what millions of Indian villagers do in times of anguish or illness: he turned to a tantric, a traditional witch doctor who calls on super-natural powers to help to heal those in need.
He was expecting an amulet, perhaps some herbs and a few mantras to chant to ward off evil. He got the amulet, but when that failed to work the tantric offered him shocking advice. He told him that his elder son, four-year-old Lokendra, was not his and only by killing him could the curse on his marriage be lifted.
Eight days later, Jatar carried out the tantric’s instructions, strangling his son as he played in the back yard and throwing his body down a well. His wife, stricken by grief over her son’s disappearance, pushed him further away. Finally, consumed by guilt, Jatar went to his in-laws at their village outside Gwalior and confessed everything. He was arrested the next day.
Through his prison bars, Jatar fights back tears as he tells how he killed his own son. “Until I went to the tantric, I always believed he was mine,” he said, gazing at the ground with haunted eyes. “I wish I had never been to see him. He twisted my mind.” The case is the latest in a string of recent tantric-inspired child sacrifices across the Hindu heartland. They have sent shockwaves through Indian society and led to a call from the Supreme Court for the Government to halt the practice of this ancient but ill-defined art.
“They prey on the minds of the uneducated,” said Police Superintendent Sunil Gupta, who led a crackdown against tantrics in western Uttar Pradesh last year. “It is something we must drive out of society.” The crackdown came after the high-profile murder of a six-year-old boy, who was kidnapped and ritually sacrificed on a tantric’s instructions by a couple desperate to conceive a male child. It was the last of more than two dozen tantric sacrifices in the area within six months.
“It is impossible to work within the framework of the law with these cases,” Mr Gupta said, justifying the arrest of dozens of tantrics. “We have to rely on fear.”
Only the vaguest of laws exist governing tantrism, mostly banning the advertisement of their dubious practices. The chief problem in regulating it is how to define it in the first place. In the West the word is most often associated with its Buddhist incarnation, synonymous with yoga and spiritual sex. In India, tantrism is an amorphous amalgam of mystical and occult practices that were born of early Hinduism that now has a following of millions.
Almost every village in India boasts a tantric, who can be consulted on everything from jaundice to possession by spirits. Advertisements in newspapers and on billboards carry the numbers of tantrics specialising in particular problems, such as infertility. Many senior politicians consult tantrics for help with their careers, including Atal Behari Vajpayee, the Prime Minister, whose personal tantric practises from a book-lined office in a leafy suburb of Gwalior.
India has dozens of secretive tantric cults with their own rituals. They include the Anandmarg cult of West Bengal, dozens of whose members were arrested in the 1980s for sacrifices of children aimed at appeasing the goddess Kali.
Tantrics in Gwalior say that such practices are a minority and give a bad name to those who practise their art faithfully. Pyare Lal, 62, has practised for four decades from a dank hut on the outskirts of the town, from where he dispenses herbal remedies and mantras in exchange for donations. In that time, he says, he has not sacrificed so much as a chicken . “This is wrong,” he said. “Has killing anyone ever been good for anyone else? These powers are meant to protect, not to harm. The community gets a bad name because of these people.”
Jagdish Bhagatji, 52, condemns the tantrics that tout for business as fakes and conmen. A tall, robed man with flowing grey hair, he regards tantrism as a calling and receives only gifts in return for his services, which he squeezes in around his regular job as a sweeper. “Real tantrics don’t put ads in the newspapers,” he said dismissively. “They are absolute fakes. They are just doing it for the money. This child sacrifice is done out of the belief that they will find buried treasure. They should be sent to jail.”
The tantric who advised Amar Jatar fled after Jatar’s arrest, but was caught by police some days later. He admits that Jatar went to visit him, but denies saying anything else to him, or even giving him the amulet. Jatar has refused to confess to police; with no evidence, they say that they are powerless to do anything.
Jatar is left to consider his fate in jail. His wife, Rajkumari, has left Gwalior with their surviving child to live with her in-laws. She has refused to visit her husband or to see him again.
When asked, he expresses remorse for what he has done, but little sense of responsibility. As far as he is concerned, the man ultimately to blame for his son’s murder still walks free. “The tantric should be in jail and he should serve a longer sentence than me,” he said. “I regret going to a tantric. I won’t be going again because I don’t think I am ever getting out of here.” |
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,172-1023943,00.html |
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