Thailand: US Man Tried to Mail Baby's Skull to Vegas

Unnamed American hasn't been charged with any crime
By Matt Cantor,  Newser Staff
Posted Nov 17, 2014 8:36 AM CST
Thailand: Man Tried to Mail Baby Body Parts to Vegas
A Thai police officer shows a picture of tattooed human skin that was found in a package.   (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)

Upon questioning, a US tourist told Thai police he'd made a gruesome purchase at a flea market: He claimed to have obtained a baby's skull, heart, and foot along with tattooed skin for $100, police say. The unnamed man allegedly tried to ship the body parts to the US, but a DHL shipping office near Bangkok called police after scanning the three boxes and determining the contents didn't sync with what the shipper had declared was inside: toys. Forensics teams collected body parts in plastic bags full of formaldehyde, CNN reports. Police say they were headed to Las Vegas.

The man "said he thought the body parts were bizarre and wanted to send them to his friends in the US," notes a Thai officer, per the Daily Mail. "We could not press any charges on him, and we are not quite sure which laws we can apply to him," says another. After the man was released without being charged, he and another American, both in their early 30s, fled Thailand, the Mail reports. The Bangkok Post is now reporting that the staff of Siriraj Hospital claims the parts were stolen from its museum in October, and that one of the men did visit the museum, per security footage. The US Embassy has been notified, police say. Baby body parts are believed by some in Thailand to contain mystical powers, CNN notes, adding that thousands of aborted fetuses were found at a Bangkok temple in 2010. (More strange stuff stories.)

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