Up to 60 human heads found at US cargo facility
Source: Agencies |
June 19, 2010, Saturday
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Print Edition
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A SHIPMENT of 40 to 60 human heads found in a cargo facility in the American state of Arkansas last week is being investigated, a county coroner said on Thursday.
The shipment of the heads in three separate containers was discovered last week at the facility in Little Rock after Southwest Airlines employees saw the package was "not labeled properly," said Southwest spokeswoman Ashley Rogers.
Employees opened the box last Wednesday evening, found the heads and contacted local police, who turned the heads over to the local coroner.
"They were basically in plastic containers with lids that are not air-sealed," Pulaski County Coroner Garland Camper said. "They were duct-taped with minimal information to disclose what was inside."
The heads were being shipped to a Medtronic Inc facility in Fort Worth, Texas. Medtronic spokesman Brian Henry said they were for educational training for neurosurgeons studying ear, nose and throat procedures.
Henry said the company ordered four heads and 40 skull parts, or the portion of the head with the ear.
"In this particular instance, they were going to be used for educational training, which is routinely and commonly done," Henry said. "It's a common practice; this is a very uncommon result."
Camper said his office took possession of the heads after being contacted by officials in Little Rock.
"Since then we have learned that the paperwork that we have asked for does not quite meet the same description of the specimens that we have," he said. "So we've got some discrepancies there."
Camper said he wanted to confirm that the heads were not being shipped as part of a black market for human body parts, adding that he had never encountered a case like this in his career as a coroner.
The shipment of the heads in three separate containers was discovered last week at the facility in Little Rock after Southwest Airlines employees saw the package was "not labeled properly," said Southwest spokeswoman Ashley Rogers.
Employees opened the box last Wednesday evening, found the heads and contacted local police, who turned the heads over to the local coroner.
"They were basically in plastic containers with lids that are not air-sealed," Pulaski County Coroner Garland Camper said. "They were duct-taped with minimal information to disclose what was inside."
The heads were being shipped to a Medtronic Inc facility in Fort Worth, Texas. Medtronic spokesman Brian Henry said they were for educational training for neurosurgeons studying ear, nose and throat procedures.
Henry said the company ordered four heads and 40 skull parts, or the portion of the head with the ear.
"In this particular instance, they were going to be used for educational training, which is routinely and commonly done," Henry said. "It's a common practice; this is a very uncommon result."
Camper said his office took possession of the heads after being contacted by officials in Little Rock.
"Since then we have learned that the paperwork that we have asked for does not quite meet the same description of the specimens that we have," he said. "So we've got some discrepancies there."
Camper said he wanted to confirm that the heads were not being shipped as part of a black market for human body parts, adding that he had never encountered a case like this in his career as a coroner.
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