Papua New Guinea police arrest cannibalistic group

The Post-Courier (6 July 2012, http://www.postcourier.com) says cannibals will be prosecuted on murder charges.

Police apprehended 29 cult followers in the Bogia district of Madang during a morning raid on Wednesday. The Madang provincial police commander, superintendant Anthony Wagambie Jnr, said more arrests are likely. Witnesses are being interviewed by the Criminal Investigations Division officers.

The arrests were the result of information provided to the police on a cult group that had attracted a large following in the region. Information revealed that the group had established initiation houses which were turning out large groups of “graduands” including several women.

After a spate of murders in the region, police initially suspected a cult group that believes in magic or spiritual rituals, but when they raided four camps they discovered cannibalistic acts. Twelve of the 29 arrested are believed to be the murderers and the rest allegedly cannibalized the victims. The group maintained that the victims were sorcerers. They said that spirits made them kill them because they were sorcerers.

In remote areas of Papua New Guinea there remains a widely held belief in sorcery, called puripuri, and often unexplained deaths are attributed to it. Some people maintain that the belief is not only common in remote areas, and that many Papua New Guineans believe in curses. Others maintain that it is related to hallucinations as a result of widespread malaria across the country.

Martina Nicolls is the author of The Sudan Curse.

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