Witchdoctors 'Switch Tactics', Mozambique Bald Men 'Targeted For Attack'

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Police in Mozambique say witchdoctors appear to have switched tactics, targeting bald men rather than people with albinism.

BBC News report continues:

"The belief is that the head of a bald man contains gold. The killers think they can enrich themselves out of it,” said Afonso Dias, a police commander in Mozambique's central Zambezia province.

He said two people had been arrested over the killing of three bald men, not two as earlier reported, last month.

“This is not different from the previous belief that people with albinism had magic powers to enrich other people. Now, criminals here have ceased to target albinos. They are now after people who are bald," Mr Dias said.

Mozambique bald men 'targeted for attack'

Police in Mozambique have warned that bald men could be the targets of ritual attacks, after the killing of two of them last month.

The two bald men, one of whom was found with his head cut off and organs removed, were killed in the central Zambezia province, AFP news agency reports.

"Last month, the murders of two bald people led to the arrest of two suspects," national police spokesman Inacio Dina said at a news conference in the capital, Maputo.

"Their motivations come from superstition and culture - the local community thinks bald individuals are rich," he said.

The BBC's Jose Tembe reports from Maputo that some people hold the false belief that bald people have gold in their heads.

The phenomenon of targeting bald people in ritual killings had not been reported before, he adds.

The suspects were two young Mozambicans who told police that the organs were to be used by healers in rituals to promote the fortunes of clients in Tanzania and Malawi, Miguel Caetano, a spokesman for the security forces in Zambezia, was quoted by AFP as saying.