Two apprehended in city for selling body parts

Police are investigating the possibility that the burnt body of a young woman found under a bridge at Mapela in the Mahwelereng area Monday could be connected to the case during which two men from the area were apprehended in Polokwane Sunday while trying to sell body parts.
At the time of going to press the deceased had not been identified.
The two men, Matsobane Stanley Mohlake and Edward Roatjie Mapayi, both from Mapela, were apprehended after they tried to sell body parts to a traditional healer in Polokwane on Sunday.
Police Spokesperson Ntobeng Phala informed that the Police had been alerted about a possible transaction in body parts to take place last Wednesday. Although plain clothes Police were deployed in the area where the purchase allegedly was to take place, the seller did not pitch and nothing happened. The same scenario played itself out on Thursday.
The seller then said he could add the private parts of men and women and there would be a choice for the purchaser and another appointment was made, this time for Sunday afternoon at a specific time and place close to the taxi rank in the city. Policemen were ready and deployed when the car they were looking for pitched. Signals were given according to plan and they then pounced upon the car.
The driver, passengers and car were searched and a human head, wrapped in newspaper, found in a plastic bag.
A crowd assembled on the scene and soon had grown into hundreds with Police battling to calm them down and let them do their job.
“We hope to find the body,” Phala said on Sunday evening. The identity of the person to whom the head belonged, a woman, is not known yet. He said the asking price for the head was R13 000.
The men were taken into custody for questioning and further investigations are underway.
The suspects were remanded in custody without bail to 19 July by the Polokwane Magistrate Court where they appeared for possession of human body parts on Tuesday.

Story: NELIE ERASMUS
>>nelie.observer@gmail.com

Featured photo: A forensic official deals with the head found wrapped in newspaper in a plastic bag.