MAPUTO, Mozambican police say they have foiled an attempt to kidnap an 11-year-old albino child in the central province of Zambezia near the border with Malawi.
The child had been targeted by a gang of five traffickers in human body parts. Albinos have been the victims of murder and mutilation because of superstitious beliefs that their body parts are imbued with magical powers.
The dismembered parts of albinos are used in grisly rituals which are supposed to bring wealth and power.
The police intervened to rescue the child, but not before the gang had shaved his head and cut off his ears.
We are on the trail of the other members of this gang believed to be those who ordered this macabre crime,” the Zambezia provincial police spokesperson, Miguel Caetano, told journalists in the provincial capital, Quelimane, Monday. He said it had been six months since the last known attempt to kidnap an albino in Zambezia.
The belief in the magical power of albino body parts appears to have been imported into Mozambique from Tanzania where albinos have long lived in fear of human traffickers. Even dead albinos are not safe; the traffickers profane their graves, and steal the bones for use in black magic rituals.
Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK