BUJUMBURA (AFP) — Burundian police detained 10 people suspected of murdering albinos to sell body parts to witch doctors in Tanzania, an official said Monday, describing the arrests as a breakthrough.
"After a two-day manhunt, I have arrested 10 suspected members of a gang responsible for the murders of albinos in Burundi," Nicodeme Gahimbare, the prosecutor tasked with investigating the murders, told AFP.
"They had albino bones with them, some of them still fresh," he said.
He described the perpetrators as "simple farmers" acting for middlemen.
At least 10 albinos have been murdered and mutilated over the past six months in Burundi and more than 40 over the past year in Tanzania.
Police sources suspect that albino limbs and organs are smuggled across the border into Tanzania and sold to witch doctors who use them to concoct lucky charms.
Fishermen and small-scale miners were initially believed to be the sorcerers' main customers but albino body parts can now fetch thousands of dollars in Tanzania.
A string of botched trials and fruitless arrests in Tanzania has raised suspicion that bigger players could be involved in the gruesome trade.
The Burundian prosecutor said he was hopeful the arrests would dismantle the criminal gang which has wreaked terror among his country's albino community, forcing the authorities to gather dozens of them in protected sites.
"I believe I have found the perpetrators, who are simple farmers, and the middlemen in this criminal trade, but three members of the organisation have escaped our net and found refuge in Tanzania," Gahimbare said.
"I think I can dismantle this criminal gang within the next few days," he added.
Burundi's albino society had complained recently that the authorities were not doing enough to protect them.
1 comment:
This is criminal people they should die
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