Bald men in Mozambique are becoming endangered species after police issued a warning stating that the men could be potential targets of ritual attacks.
The warning by the police comes following the recent killing of five men for their body parts.
Two of the suspects arrested in connection with the killings in the central district of Milange were reported to have revealed that the killings may be connected to the belief that bald mens head contains gold.
The Police commander for Mozambique’s central Zambezia province, Afonso Dias, said: “The belief is that the head of a bald man contains gold.”
The police commander further revealed that “Albino people have also been killed in the region for ritual purposes.”
A BBC correspondent in the capital, Jose Tembe disclosed that the police think “the notion of a bald head containing gold is a ruse by witchdoctors to get clients to take a person’s head to them.”
He added: “Their motive comes from superstition and culture – the local community thinks bald individuals are rich,” Commander Dias is reported as having told a press conference in Maputo.”
According to a regional security spokesman, Miguel Caetano, one of the arrested suspects disclosed that one of the victims’ head was cut off and his organs removed. The organs harvested are believed to be a part of requirements for an advance wealth ritual for clients in Tanzania and Malawi.
