Apparently a gang in Peru is killing people, extracting their body fat and selling it in Lima, to make cosmetics and skin supplies. It's also apparent, this has been taking place for many years.
I have posted three articles from three different NEWS sources.
The first article does not explicitly say that fat people are being targeted, but it seems highly likely that this is the case.
Warning: The description of fat being extracted from corpses is gruesome.
Here is the New York Times article at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/20/world ... eru&st=cse
Here's another article from The Cleveland Leader at:
Peruâ??s Police Say Gang Drained Victimsâ?? Fat
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: November 19, 2009
LIMA, Peru (AP) â?? A gang in the remote Peruvian jungle has been killing people for their fat, the police said Thursday, accusing the gangâ??s members of draining fat from bodies and selling it on the black market for use in cosmetics.
Medical experts expressed skepticism, however, that a major market for fat might exist.
Three suspects have confessed to killing five people for their fat, said Col. Jorge MejÃa, chief of Peruâ??s anti-kidnapping police. He said the suspects, two of whom were arrested carrying bottles of liquid fat, told the police it was worth $60,000 a gallon.
Colonel MejÃa said the suspects had told the police that the fat had been sold to intermediaries in Lima, the capital. While police officials suspect that the fat was sold to cosmetic companies in Europe, he said he could not confirm any sales.
Several medical experts acknowledged that fat had cosmetic uses, but they also said they doubted that there was an international black market for human fat. Dr. Lisa M. Donofrio, a Yale University dermatology professor, speculated that a small market might exist for â??human fat extractsâ? to keep skin supple, though she added that scientists considered such treatments â??pure baloney.â?
At a news conference, the police showed reporters two bottles of fat recovered from the suspects and a photo of the rotting head of a 27-year-old man. One of the suspects, Elmer Segundo Castillejos, helped police officers recover the head in a coca-growing valley last month, Colonel MejÃa said.
Colonel MejÃa said Mr. Castillejos had told officers that the gang would cut off its victimsâ?? heads, arms and legs, remove the organs, and then suspend the torsos from hooks above candles that warmed the flesh as the fat dripped into tubs below.
Six members of the gang remain at large, he said, adding that in addition to the five killings to which the suspects had confessed, the gang might have been involved in dozens of others. Mr. Castillejos told the police that the bandâ??s fugitive leader, Hilario Cudena, had been killing people to extract fat for more than three decades.
At least 60 people are listed as missing this year in Huanuco Province, where the gang is believed to have operated. The province is also home to drug-trafficking leftist rebels.
Colonel MejÃa said the police had received a tip four months ago that human fat from the jungle was being sold in Lima. In August, he said, police officers infiltrated the gang and later obtained some of the amber fluid, which a police lab confirmed as human fat.
The police arrested Serapio Marcos Veramendi and Enedina Estela on Nov. 3 in a Lima bus station with a quart of human fat in a soda bottle, he said. Their testimony led to the arrest of Mr. Castillejos three days later at the same bus station.
All three are charged with homicide, criminal conspiracy, illegal firearms possession and drug trafficking, according to a statement from Lima Superior Court.
http://www.clevelandleader.com/node/12045
Here's another article from BBC NEWS at:Fat People the Target of Gang Murders in Peru; Fat
Sold on Black Market
Submitted by Julie on November 20, 2009 - 1:26pm.
If you are the slightest bit pudgy, you may want to reconsider that trip to Peru. Peruvian police have captured several members of a remote jungle gang that kills people for their fat. The fat is then reportedly sold on the black market for use in cosmetics. One of the suspects revealed that the killers would cut off their victims' heads and limbs, remove the organs, and then suspend the torsos from hooks over candles to melt fat from the bodies.
Three suspects have confessed to killing five people for their fat. Two suspects were arrested carrying bottles of liquid fat and revealed to police that it was worth $60,000 per gallon. Police seized two bottles of amber colored fluid from the suspects, and testing later proved it was human fat. The suspects said that the fat was sold to intermediaries in Lima. Officials suspect that the fat was sold to cosmetic companies in Europe.
Police refer to the jungle gang as the "Pishtacos" after a Peruvian myth of Incas who killed to extract human fat, quartering their victims with machetes. Six gang members, including the leader, Hilario Cudena, 56, have thus far eluded capture. Cudena has been said to have been killing to extract fat from victims for more than three decades. This year alone at least 60 people have been reported missing in the Huanuco province where the gang allegedly operates.
Police arrested two suspects at a Lima bus station on November 3. They were carrying a quart of human fat in a soda bottle. Three days later, another suspect was arrested at the same bus station. All three are charged with homicide, criminal conspiracy, illegal firearms possession and drug trafficking. One of the suspects said that his gang was not the only one engaged in these kind of killings.
Medical experts, however, express doubt about an international black market for human fat. Yale dermatology professor Dr. Lisa Donofrio says that a small market may exist for "human fat extracts" to keep skin supple, but notes that such treatments don't really work.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8369674.stm
This article even includes a NEWS Video.
It's getting worse for us fat people all over the world.'Fat for cosmetics' murder suspects arrested in Peru
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.
Some of the suspects were carrying
bottles of fat when arrested
The gang allegedly targeted people on remote roads, luring them with fake job offers before killing them and extracting their fat. The liquidized product fetched $15,000 (£9,000) a litre and police suspect it was sold on to companies in Europe. At least five other suspects, including two Italian nationals, remain at large.
Police said the gang could be behind the disappearances of up to 60 people in Peru's Huanuco and Pasco regions. One of those arrested told police the ringleader had been killing people for their fat for more than three decades. The gang has been referred to as the Pishtacos, after an ancient Peruvian legend of killers who attack people on lonely roads and murder them for their fat.
Human tissue
At a news conference in the capital, police showed reporters two bottles containing human body fat and images of one of the alleged 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 news agency some of the suspects had "declared and stated how they murdered people with the aim being to extract their fat in rudimentary labs and sell it". Police said they suspect the fat was sold to cosmetics and pharmaceutical companies in Europe, but have not confirmed any such connection.
The group allegedly sold body fat to be used in cosmetics in Europe. Human fat is used in modern cosmetic procedures but in most cases it is the patient's own fat that is used and under strict legal guidelines. Medical authorities have expressed scepticism about a black market for human fat, partly because of the wide availability of fat for use in surgical procedures.
'Detailed confession'
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 their fat removed. 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, AP reported.
The alleged buyers of the fat are also being hunted by police.
Recently, in London, and overweight lady was attacked by another passenger while riding home on a train.
Fat parents in the UK are having their children taken away from them by the state.
Now, in Lima, Peru, fat people are being slaughtered for their body-fat and sold on the black market to make cosmetics.
What next? Will we fat people eventually be cannibalized for our flesh?
Yeah! It's just keeps on getting better all the time!
NOT!!!