Autopsies carried out on over 112 corpses recovered from mass graves linked to a Kenyan cult leader, Pastor Paul Mackenzie who allegedly instructed his followers to starve themselves to death so as to meet with Jesus, had revealed missing organs.
The head of Kenyan Forensic Operations in charge of the autopsies, Dr. Johansen Oduor, said on Tuesday that the discoveries had also raised suspicions of forced organ harvesting, torture and strangulation, especially on bodies of child victims.
“Autopsy reports have noted missing organs on some of the bodies of victims that have so far been exhumed,” he said.
“This has raised concerns about a well-coordinated trafficking of human organs involving several actors.
“Some of the victims, including children, were, however, strangled, beaten or suffocated, the head of forensic operations,” he told journalists after the autopsy reports were released.
The discovery of the bodies in mass graves in a ranch belonging to Mackenzie, a self-proclaimed pastor of the International Church of Good News, after he instructed his followers to starve to death they wanted to go to heaven and meet Jesus.
The discovery of the mass graves in the Shakahola Forest near the coastal town of Malindi led to discoveries of remains of more corpses.
According to Kenyan authorities, more than a hundred bodies, majority of them children, have so far been found in the forest, a scandal which has caused horror in the East African country.