Blog

Jungle gang kill victims for their fat

Posted by Jane Okinedo on November 20, 2009 at 12:28am
Friday, November 20, 2009A gang in the Peruvian jungle has been killing people and draining fat from the corpses to sell on the black market for use in cosmetics.Three suspects confessed to killing five people, but the gang may have been involved in dozens more, said Colonel Jorge Mejia, chief of Peru's anti-kidnapping police.Mejia said two of the suspects were arrested carrying bottles of liquid human fat and told police it was worth $60,000 a gallon.The fat was sold to intermediaries in Peru's capital, Lima, and police suspect it was then sold to cosmetic companies in Europe.Medical experts expressed doubt about an international black market for human fat, although it does have cosmetic applications.At a news conference, police showed reporters two bottles of fat recovered from the suspects and a photo of the rotting head of a 27-year-old male victim.Suspect Elmer Segundo Castillejos, 29, led police to the head, recovered in a coca-growing valley last month.Mejia said Castillejos recounted how the gang cut off its victims' heads, arms and legs, removed the organs, then suspended the torsos from hooks above candles that warmed the flesh as fat dripped into tubs below.Six members of the gang remain at large, Mejia said. Among them was the band's alleged leader, Hilario Cudena, 56, who Castillejos told police has been killing people to extract human fat for more than three decades.This year alone, at least 60 people are listed as missing in Huanuco province, where the gang allegedly operated, though the province is also home to drug-trafficking leftist rebels.Human fat is used in anti-wrinkle treatments - but is always extracted from the patient who is being treated, usually from the stomach or buttocks."There would be a risk of immunological reaction that could lead to life-threatening consequences" if fat from someone else were used, said Dr. Neil Sadick, a professor of dermatology at Cornell Weill Medical College in New York.
Tags: Jungle, fat, for, gang, kill, their, victims
E-mail me when people leave their comments –
Follow

You need to be a member of 9jabook Africa's Ist Social Network to add comments!

Join 9jabook Africa's Ist Social Network

Latest Blog Posts

Most Popular Blog Posts

Blog Topics by Tags

  • in (506)
  • to (479)
  • of (339)
  • ! (213)
  • as (166)
  • is (157)
  • a (156)

Monthly Archives