Mozambique grave robbers steal deceased albino’s body parts after grave was reinforced

Areinforced grave did not deter grave robbers in Mozambique from destroying the grave of a dead albino man and making away with his body parts. According to BBC, the incident occurred in a village in the southeastern African nation’s province of Tete.

The deceased albino was around 50 years old. His family decided to reinforce the grave as they expected an incident of such nature could occur, but police said the suspects are yet to be apprehended.

As previously reported by Face2Face Africa, albinos are perceived to possess magical powers among some peoples of Africa, especially in the central, eastern, and southern parts of the continent. Body parts of albinos are sought by killers who are directed by spiritualists to either ingest these parts or secretly keep them.

The belief is that whoever does this will have their material or spiritual desires fulfilled. For decades, various measures, including transnational efforts have proven short of solving the problem.

Remane Madane, who is an albino rights campaigner, denounced the recent grave robbery. Madane also said police had given assurances that they were going to put in the necessary effort to round up the suspects.

“The cemetery is isolated. To get there it is a long distance, to go alone you have to think twice, otherwise maybe a team [was involved],” he said.