Posted on March 26, 2012

Human Fetuses Found in Luggage at Miami Airport

KTLA (Los Angeles), March 22, 2012

Customs agents at Miami International Airport made a disturbing discovery in a piece of luggage — human remains apparently for use in a Santeria ritual.

According to Miami-Dade police spokesman Roy Rutland, agents found two human fetuses in luggage belonging to two women returning from Havana, Cuba.

Police say customs agents spotted one fetus when they X-rayed a clay jar and found the second when they opened the jar.

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“The medical examiner made a determination that both of the fetuses were close to 20 weeks and both had been stillborn — they were not viable,” Ritland told the Miami Herald.

According to the Herald, the fetuses were to be delivered to someone in Miami and used in one of the mixed Catholic and African religions widely practiced in Cuba, such as Santeria.

The women reportedly told authorities they received the jar from a babalao, a Santeria priest, and had no idea what was inside.

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