Skin trade

Witchcraft is increasingly worrying the Tanzanian Government - in July the government exhibited human skin at an international business fair as part of a crackdown in the south of the country.

The head of the forensic science division in the chief chemist's office, Gloria Machube, said human skin was used in witchcraft rituals.

According to police, the skins are transported to Malawi, Zambia, Mozambique, South Africa and the Democratic Republic of Congo before reaching their final destination in West Africa.

In 2001 police broke a skin-smuggling ring and 13 people were charged with murder.

A total of six young people were suspected to have been killed and skinned in the Mbeya region of south-western Tanzania.

The prices of the human skins range from $2,400 to $9,600, depending on the age of the victim, police said.