Pishtacos
As Pishtacos (after the Quechua legend of Pishtaku , "butcher"), an alleged group of serial killers was known in Peru who, according to the Peruvian police, had been active since the 1970s. The police have already charged the group with at least 60 murders in 2009 alone. The police have not yet reported any older finds. The gang is said to have wreaked havoc in central Peruvian Huánuco , about 400 km northeast of the capital. In 2009, the story was exposed to the killings as an invention of police officers so that in truth by suggestion of former Deputy Interior Minister vigilante murders tried to cover up by officials. Police chief Murga had to resign because of the affair.
Legend of the alleged gang
The group, the claims launched, were out to abduct and kill people in order to get hold of their body fat. This would then be sold via intermediaries based in Lima and in this way reached European cosmetics via fat laboratories and cosmetic companies. The police got on the trail of the perpetrators through bone finds in the jungle and a bottle with amber-colored liquid.
In November, the police said they received a tip that human fat would soon be offered on the market in Lima . Undercover agents made direct contact with suspects there. When they gathered all the necessary evidence, the police struck and arrested a first suspect on November 3, 2009. After his interrogation, suspects were further arrested on November 20, 2009. Three Italians and one Peruvian were arrested as the main suspects. Another six alleged members of the group should still be on the run at this point. After the arrest, the suspects said during interrogation that they earned US $ 15,000 per liter of fat.
Doubts about authenticity
Even before the story of the lie was revealed, medical experts questioned the statement about high earnings from body fat, since body fats are usually not traded that high. In fact, human body fat has no particular use, either cosmetically or medicinally, and accordingly there is no market and the story seems absurd from the outset, especially since possible needs could easily be met differently, e.g. B. by liposuction in the field of plastic surgery, whereby liquefied body fat is produced anyway.
designation
Because of the cruel nature of the murders and the fat production, the group was named by the police after the legendary figure Pishtaco . First, the allegations made, the perpetrators killed their victims with a throat cut, severed their arms and legs, and then bleeded their torsos into a tub. When this was completed, the tub was allegedly replaced with a second one and candles placed around the outside and lit. The resulting heat development should cause the fat to drip into the tub, explained Chief Police General Eusebio Félix Murga .
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b People slaughtered for the cosmetics industry? , Archive MOPO . November 21, 2009. ( Page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ "Body fat murders" overthrow police chief . December 2, 2009. Retrieved December 3, 2009.
- ↑ Andrew Whalen, Gang Killed People For Their Fat: Peruvian Police , Huffington Post . November 19, 2009.
- ^ Andrew Whalen: Peru police: Gang killed people for fat . Associated Press , November 20, 200. Archived from the original on October 8, 2018 Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (Accessed November 21, 2009).
- ^ A Peruvian Black Market in Human Fat? Medical Experts Dispute Lima Police Claims That Gang Murdered Victims, Drained Fat From Bodies to Sell to Cosmetic Makers , Associated Press . November 21, 2009.
- ^ Arthur Brice: Arrests made in ring that sold human fat, Peru says , CNN. November 21, 2009.
- ^ Rory Carroll: Gang 'killed victims to extract their fat' , The Guardian . November 20, 2009.
