Police found the remains of an albino boy in northern Tanzania, and police are still looking for the suspects behind the murder.
According to Tanzanian police, a one-year-old Yohana Bahati was snatched from his mother’s house on Sunday. The attackers cut the mother with a machete, when she tried to protect her child. On Tuesday, Yohana’s mutilated body was found a few miles away from the home with all his limbs cut off.
Police are holding the boy’s father, who was nearby at the time of the attack. The BBC reported that two people were arrested in connection with Sunday’s incident, but the police is still looking for suspects. Two of Yohana’s siblings, who are both albinos, are under police protection and the mother is in critical condition (in hospital).
Albino body parts are in high demand with some willing to pay up to $75,000 for a complete set, because witch doctors use them to make charms that are supposed to bring good luck and wealth. Tanzania recently banned witch doctors in a bid to end the murder of albinos.
The UN warned that 2015 could be a “dangerous year” for albinos as the upcoming general and presidential elections may cause some candidates to turn to influential witch doctors for help.
Over 70 albino children have been murdered in the past decade.