People Murdered For Their Fat in Peru

'Fat for cosmetics' murder suspects arrested in Peru :

Some of the suspects were carrying bottles of fat when arrested. Four people have been arrested in Peru on suspicion of killing dozens of people in order to sell their fat and tissue for cosmetic uses in Europe. The gang allegedly targeted people on remote roads, luring them with fake job offers before extracting their fat to sell it for $15,000 (£9,000) a litre. Other suspected gang members, including two Italian nationals, remain at large.

Police said the gang could be behind the disappearances of up to 60 people in the region. At a news conference in the capital, police showed reporters two bottles containing human body fat and images of one of the victims. One of the alleged killings is reported to have taken place in mid-September, with the person's body tissue removed for sale.

Cmdr Angel Toledo told Reuters some of the suspects had " stated how they murdered people, extracting their fat in rudimentary labs to sell it".
Police said they suspect the fat was sold to cosmetics and pharmaceutical companies in Europe, but have not confirmed any such connection. Gen Felix Burga, head of Peru's police criminal division, said there were indications that "an international network trafficking human fat" was operating from Peru.

The first person was arrested earlier this month in a bus station in Lima, carrying a shipment of the fat. The Associated Press news agency quoted Col Jorge Mejia as saying one of the suspects had described to police in detail how the victims were killed and the methods used for removing and preparing their fat for transport. The suspect said the fat was then sold to intermediaries in Lima and that the gang's leader, Hilario Cudena, had been carrying out such murders for decades.

The alleged buyers of the fat are also being hunted by police. The gang has been referred to as the Pishtacos, after an ancient Peruvian legend of killers who attacked people on lonely roads and murdered them for their fat. I wonder what the ancient Peruvians used the fat for. Scratch that; I don't even want to go there.