Police in Brazil have claimed that human remains have been posted from a university there to a controversial fashion designer in Singapore.A human hand and three placentas left Brazil, bound for Arnold Putra - a designer who faced a backlash when he fashioned a handbag out of human bones in 2020, according to police.Authorities stated the organs were bound “for a famous Indonesian designer who sells accessories and garments using materials of human nature.”A raid by Brazilian Federal Police was carried out at the Amazonas State University (UEA) in the city of Manaus, the source of the human remains.Police said they acted on tips-offs to raid the institution and found that the hand and placentas were preserved by an anatomy professor using a method known as plastination.Plastination is a process used in anatomy to preserve bodies or body parts.
The water and fat are replaced by certain plastics, yielding specimens that can be touched, do not smell or decay, and even retain most properties of the original sample.“The anatomy lab of a local university performed the extraction of body fluids,” the police statement read. “There are indications that a package containing a hand and three placentas of human origin were posted from Manaus to Singapore.”Vice reported that the package, or packages, have left Brazilian shores and that it is unclear whether or not they have been intercepted or not.To stay up to date with all the latest news, make sure you sign up to one of our newsletters here.Officials reported that a member of staff at the university had been suspended after the police “search and seizure” operation.The professor is now under investigation.
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