Hunting down those who kill for human body parts

With many households left traumatised by killings apparently linked to supposed magic rituals in Sierra Leone, BBC Africa Eye seems into these behind the commerce in human physique components.

Warning: This text comprises particulars some readers could discover disturbing.

The mom of an 11-year-old boy murdered as a part of a suspected black magic killing 4 years in the past is devastated that no-one has but been delivered to justice for his loss of life.

“At the moment I am in ache. They killed my youngster and now there may be simply silence,” Sallay Kalokoh advised BBC Africa Eye, explaining how her son Papayo was discovered with components of his physique eliminated, together with his important organs, eyes and one arm.

He had gone out to promote fish on the market and by no means got here again.

His household looked for him for 2 weeks – and at last discovered his mutilated corpse on the backside of a nicely.

“We at all times inform our kids to watch out. In case you are promoting, do not go to a nook or take presents from strangers. It occurs steadily on this nation,” Ms Kalokoh stated.

This homicide in my hometown of Makeni, in central Sierra Leone, has haunted me as we regularly hear of experiences of killings linked to black magic, also referred to as juju, which can be by no means adopted up or correctly investigated by the authorities.

In Papayo’s case, the police didn’t even verify that it was a “ritual killing” – when an individual is murdered in order that components of their physique can be utilized in so-called magic rituals by illicit juju practitioners.

They promise issues like prosperity and energy to shoppers who pay massive sums within the false perception that human physique components could make such charms stronger.

However with the authorities severely under-resourced – there is just one pathologist in a rustic that has a inhabitants of 8.9 million – it’s typically inconceivable to collect the proof wanted to trace down the culprits.

Perception in witchcraft can be so deeply ingrained in Sierra Leone, even amongst many cops, that there’s typically a worry of pursuing circumstances additional – and most go unsolved.

However I needed to search out out extra about this underground commerce in human physique components that leaves tragedy in its wake.

Our BBC Africa Eye crew was capable of finding two individuals who claimed they had been juju practitioners and supplied to acquire physique components for ritual functions.

Each stated they had been a part of a lot bigger networks – and one boasted that he had highly effective shoppers throughout West Africa. The BBC was unable to confirm these claims.

One member of our crew went undercover, utilizing the title Osman, to pose as a politician who needed to realize energy by means of human sacrifice.

We first travelled to a distant space of Kambia district, within the north of the nation close to the Guinean border, to fulfill the juju man in his secret shrine – an space in dense bush the place he consulted together with his shoppers.

Calling himself Kanu, he wore a ceremonial purple masks masking his complete face to hide his identification and boasted of his political connections.

“I used to be working with some massive, massive politicians in Guinea, Senegal and Nigeria. We’ve got our crew. Typically throughout election time, at night time, this place is filled with folks,” he claimed.

Election season is regarded by some as a very harmful time when dad and mom have been warned to take particular care of their youngsters due to the heightened threat of abductions.

On a second go to, Kanu grew to become extra assured and confirmed Osman what he stated was proof of his commerce – a human cranium.

“You see this? This belongs to somebody. I dried it for them. It’s a lady’s cranium. I’m anticipating the particular person to select this up in the present day or tomorrow.”

He additionally pointed to a pit behind his shrine: “That is the place we hold human components. We slaughter right here, and the blood goes down there… Even massive chiefs, when they need energy, come right here. I give them what they need.”

When Osman specified that he needed limbs from a lady for use in a ritual, Kanu obtained all the way down to enterprise: “The value of a lady is 70m leones [£2,500; $3,000].”

Anxious to not put anybody in danger, we didn’t meet Kanu once more. He could have been a scammer, however we handed over our proof to the native police to analyze additional.

Such juju males generally discuss with themselves as herbalists, the title given to healers who use conventional medication typically constituted of native vegetation to deal with frequent diseases.

World Well being Group information reveals that Sierra Leone – which suffered a brutal civil battle within the Nineteen Nineties and was on the centre of the Ebola epidemic a decade in the past – had round 1,000 registered medical doctors in 2022, in comparison with reported estimates of 45,000 conventional healers.

Most individuals within the West African nation depend on these healers, who additionally assist with psychological well being points and deal with their sufferers in shrines the place there is a component of mysticism and spiritualism culturally related to their craft and the treatments they promote.

Sheku Tarawallie, president of Sierra Leone’s Council of Conventional Healers, is adamant that “diabolic” juju males like Kanu are giving healers a foul title.

“We try very onerous to clear our picture. The extraordinary particular person does not perceive, so that they class us [all] as unhealthy herbalists. One rotting fish can destroy the batch of fish… We’re healers, we’re not killers,” he advised BBC Africa Eye.

Mr Tarawallie is in truth making an attempt to work with the federal government and one other non-governmental organisation to open a standard medication clinic to deal with sufferers.

It was these with a lust for energy and cash who had been typically behind the ritual killings, he believed.

“When any individual needs to turn into a pacesetter… they take away components from human beings. They use that one as a sacrifice. Burn folks, use their ashes for energy. Use their oil for energy.”

The variety of ritual killings in Sierra Leone, the place most individuals determine as Muslim or Christian, just isn’t recognized.

“In most African international locations, ritual murders will not be formally recorded as a separate or sub-category of murder,” Emmanuel Sarpong Owusu, a researcher on the UK’s Aberystwyth College, advised the BBC.

“Some are misclassified or misreported as accidents, deaths ensuing from assaults by wild animals, suicides, pure deaths… Most perpetrators – probably 90% – will not be apprehended.”

After we discovered one other suspected provider of physique components, he was situated in a suburb of the capital, Freetown, referred to as Waterloo, which is infamous for drug abuse and different crime.

“I am not alone, I’ve as much as 250 herbalists working below my banner,” the person calling himself Idara advised Osman, who was once more undercover and carrying a secret digital camera.

“There are not any human components that we do not work with. As soon as we name for a particular physique half, then they bring about it. We share the work,” Idara stated.

He went on to clarify how a few of his collaborators had been good at capturing folks – and on Osman’s second go to performed a voice message from certainly one of them who claimed they had been ready to begin going out each night time searching for a sufferer.

Osman advised him to not proceed but however when he later acquired a name from Idara claiming his crew had recognized a sufferer, we contacted Police Commissioner Ibrahim Sama.

He determined to organise a raid – however stated his officers wouldn’t accomplish that with out the involvement of Mr Tarawallie, who typically assists the police on such operations.

“After we obtained intelligence that there’s a specific harmful witchdoctor working a shrine, we are going to work with the normal healers,” stated an officer on the raid, Assistant Superintendent Aliu Jallo.

He went on to specific the superstitions some officers have about tackling rogue herbalists: “I can’t go and provoke conditions. I do know that they’ve their very own powers which can be past my information.”

After Idara was captured – found hiding within the roof clutching a knife – Mr Tarawallie started looking out the property for proof, saying there have been human bones, human hair and piles of what regarded like filth from cemeteries.

This was sufficient for the police to arrest Idara and two different males, who had been charged in June with practising sorcery in addition to being in possession of conventional weapons utilized in ritual killings. They pleaded not responsible to the fees and have since been granted bail, pending additional investigations.

As we by no means heard again from the police in Kambia about Kanu, I attempted to name him myself to problem him in regards to the allegations straight, however he was unreachable.

There are events when even high-profile circumstances seem to stall. Two years in the past, a college lecturer went lacking in Freetown and his physique was later discovered buried in what police say was the shrine of a herbalist in Waterloo.

The case was referred in August 2023 by a Justice of the Peace to the Excessive Courtroom for trial, however two sources have advised the BBC it has not been pursued up to now and people detained by police have been launched on bail.

My household is going through related hurdles discovering justice. In Might, throughout our BBC investigation, my 28-year-old cousin Fatmata Conteh was murdered in Makeni.

A hairdresser and mom of two, her physique was dumped the day after her birthday by the aspect of the highway the place a resident advised the BBC two different our bodies had been present in current weeks.

A number of of her entrance enamel had been lacking, main the neighborhood to consider it was a ritual killing.

“She was a woman that by no means did hurt. She was very peaceable and hard-working,” stated one mourner as household, buddies and colleagues gathered for a giant funeral at her native mosque.

We could by no means know the true motive for Fatmata’s homicide. The household paid for her physique to be transported to Freetown for an post-mortem – one thing the authorities couldn’t afford to do – however the autopsy was inconclusive and no arrests have but been made.

As is the case for Papayo’s mom, the shortage of closure and feeling of abandonment by the police fuels worry and terror in poor communities like Makeni.

Further reporting by Chris Alcock and Luis Barrucho