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A 36-year-old man kidnapped his own albino son in Milange district in the Mozambican province of Zambezia to feed an organ trafficking business in a case that authorities consider a resurgence of attacks on people with skin pigmentation disorders.
In the past two months, two other albino children have been abducted and are still missing, bringing the number of cases against albinos this year to three, Milange officials told VOA.
Milange administrator Mário Macassa said that the man, taking advantage of his polygamous domestic situation and convinced by a friend who said he would act as an intermediary, took his youngest child to hand him over for organ extraction.
“The father thought he would sell his son, a newborn child. The mother (of the child) realising that her husband was going to fetch the group (of buyers) to deliver the product (the child) reported it to the police, and the child was recovered,” Macassa said.
The man had attempted to flee to Malawi, but was arrested along with the intermediary on their way to deliver the child.
The abduction and murder of people with albinism has fallen significantly throughout the country, especially in the Milange district. Data provided by the Attorney General’s Office indicate that in 2015, 15 of the 38 human trafficking cases involved albinos, while in 2016 there were 19 cases, of which only seven involved albinos.
The abduction, persecution and killings of albinos and bald people are motivated by superstitious beliefs that the body parts of such individuals can attract wealth.
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