Grave charges: Suspected cannibal freed in Abbottabad

Police claim he was actually a drug addict mistaken as man-eater.

ABBOTABAD:

The police in a precedent move released a suspected cannibal in the Kehal area of Abbottabad after he was handed in their custody by residents, who had caught him as he was busy digging the grave of a child in the local graveyard, police sources have confirmed.

Earlier this year, police released two brothers in Bhakkar, Punjab, who were involved in cannibalism. They had dug graves in a local graveyard and were feeding on human flesh.

Officials on Friday, however, refuted their own claims and said that the accused, Shoaib Zafar, was a drug addict and mentally disabled. They maintained that the accused was caught while he was securing hashish near a child’s grave.

Cantonment police told The Express Tribune that some residents of Kehal caught Shoaib digging the grave of a child on Thursday and mistook him to be a cannibal. The accused was then handed over to the police.

During interrogation, Shoaib first confessed that he ate human flesh but later it was established that the accused was a drug addict and was caught while he buried hashish near a grave.

Residents who later came to Shoaib’s rescue said that the 35-year-old man was mentally challenged and had been suffering from this condition for several years. Due to lack of evidence, and upon confirmations from the locals and the accused’s family, the police released Shoaib on Friday.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 5^th, 2014.