In Nigeria, five individuals who were found guilty of exhuming a human skull were given 12-year sentences each.
They were going to take it to a traditional doctor who claimed it was necessary for rituals that would make them wealthy, so they had that in mind.
When the men were discovered carrying the skull in a bag, they entered a guilty plea.
The men had discovered a body buried in a Muslim cemetery in the north-central Niger state three years prior, the prosecution testified in court.
“They said the herbalist informed and promised all of them that they would share the wealth from the said criminal activity and directed them to look for the human skull,” the prosecutor was quoted as saying by the privately owned Daily Punch newspaper.
Security officers had arrested the young men, who are aged between 18 and 28, in early September as they transported the remains to a third party, on the instructions of a traditional doctor.
The traditional doctor was not arrested and charged.
It is fairly common for people in Nigeria to believe in “juju”, also known as voodoo or magic, which is often combined with Christianity or Islam.
According to a report by the Pew Research Centre in 2010, some people believe that human body parts and charms can produce money from a clay pot.
Unfortunately, this belief has led to a recent surge in brutal murders in Nigeria, often targeting vulnerable individuals like children, single women, and people with disabilities.
Local authorities have reported that body parts are sold and used in rituals believed to bring wealth.
Money-making rituals in Nigeria have also been fuelled by mounting economic desperation, in a country where four out of 10 people live in poverty, according to World Bank data.
