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.
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SSS smashes kidnap gang, rescues Perm Sec and NBA Chairman, recovers $130,000, N10m
Uchechukwu Olisah, Benin City
Saturday, November 14, 2009
The State Security Service (SSS) in Benin City, the Edo State capital, on Friday, announced the smashing of a kidnap gang and the rescuing of 11 victims.
advertisementBesides, the SSS announced the recovery of $130,000 and N10 million in cash.
The state director of the SSS, Mr. Olukayode Oduneye, who made the announcement while parading four suspected kidnappers, said the victims were abducted from different parts of the country, particularly the South West, Niger Delta, Niger, Benue and Adamawa states.
The rescued victims were Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Youths Affairs and Strategy, Adamu Umar, who was abducted at Dikko Junction, near Suleja in Niger State; Managing Director ABS Gorminers, Abubakar Tarfa, who was kidnapped on Abaji Road and Deputy Director, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Water Resources, Dr. Abdulganiyu Abubakar, who was forcefully taken with his driver, Abioye Tajudeen, on Okene-Auchi Road.
Others included the chairman of Ekpoma branch of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) with his three children.
The SSS director said the suspects were arrested at different locations in Warri and Benin, and that their arrests were made possible because of the cooperation of members of the public and good intelligence work.
He added that the arrests led to the release of the victims between November 12 and 13.
Mr. Oduneye said the SSS worked in cooperation with the police in Benin City and the military in Warri, Delta State.
One of the victims, Abubakar Tarfa, 52, who spoke with journalists, said he and 10 others, including the lawyer and his three children, were held hostage for eight days.
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