- Sputnik International
Asia
Find top stories and features from Asia and the Pacific region. Keep updated on major political stories and analyses from Asia and the Pacific. All you want to know about China, Japan, North and South Korea, India and Pakistan, Southeast Asia and Oceania.

Man Travelling With 50 Human Skeletons Arrested in India

© AFP 2023 / AHMAD GHARABLISkeletons
Skeletons - Sputnik International
Subscribe
The arrested man is suspected to be a member of an international corpse-smuggling syndicate. The police suspect that the skeletons were meant to be smuggled to China via Bhutan.

New Delhi (Sputnik): India's Government Railway Police (GRP) have arrested a suspected corpse smuggler and recovered 50 human skeletons at the Chapra railway station in Bihar's Saran district. The arrested man, identified as Sanjay Prasad, was traveling in Balia-Sealdah Express.

GRP official suspect that the skeletons, being brought from Balia in Uttar Pradesh, were meant to be smuggled to China via Bhutan, according to local media reports.  

READ MORE: Relics: Section of Buddha’s Skull Said to Have Been Recovered in China

According to the police, the suspect is being interrogated to ascertain if he is part of a larger syndicate engaged in the trade.

"GRP men also recovered Nepalese and Bhutanese currencies, many ATM cards, two identity cards and SIM cards with Nepal mobile phone numbers from his possession. One of the identity cards had the address of Paharpur in West Champaran while the second card was issued from New Jalpaiguri in West Bengal. The GRP will seek the remand of the arrested person when he is produced in a court on Wednesday," deputy superintendent of GRP Mohammad Tanvir told the media. 

In this Jan 2, 2013 photo, a hospital worker walks by a partially excavated skeleton, at a mass grave found inside the premises of a government hospital in Matale, about 140 kilometers (about 88 miles) north east of Colombo, Sri Lanka. - Sputnik International
Asia
Skeleton Ring: Eight Arrested for Human Bone Smuggling in India
The seizure of foreign currency is a definite indication that the racket may have its tentacles spread to foreign countries, the officer added.

Local scribes told Sputnik that the syndicate could be of international nature and more arrests are possible.

READ MORE: Indian Scientists Breathe New Life Into Ancient Egyptian Mummy

"It is not the first time that the arrest has happened in this regard. In these border areas, arrests have been made in 2004 as well as in 2009 with more than 1000 skulls and skeletons. The syndicate is across the border and the supply area is from the poverty-stricken districts of India and remote villages. More arrests could happen soon and the police this time are trying to establish the whole chain of smuggling," Abhishek Arun, a local journalist from Chapra told Sputnik.

Newsfeed
0
To participate in the discussion
log in or register
loader
Chats
Заголовок открываемого материала