In September 2003, a Sudanese merchant was visited by a customer who had travelled to Khartoum from West Africa. The two men became embroiled in an argument during which the West African grabbed the shop-keeper’s hand and shook it violently; almost immediately the merchant could feel his penis beginning to shrivel as it withdrew into his body. Terrified at the thought of losing his manhood, the merchant became hysterical and had to be taken to hospital where doctors could find nothing wrong with him.

This was not an isolated incident: in the days afterwards, at least another 40 men were hospitalised after having had their penises ‘stolen’ by a mysterious West African.