Allegations have emerged that a Chinese crime ring has stolen more than 4,000 corpses from crematoriums and medical laboratories to use their bones for dental grafts. A medical college and three funeral homes have also been accused of selling corpses to the crime ring.
The case gained much attention and caused widespread public anger after Yi Shenghua – a well-known criminal lawyer – published on social media that police in Taiyuan (the capital of the northern province of Shanxi) were investigating accusations that a crime ring was stealing and reselling corpses for profit.
The bodies were allegedly purchased by a company called Shanxi Aorui Biomaterials from Sichuan, Guangxi and Shandong.
The corpses were purportedly used to produce allogeneic bone grafts, which are done when patients lack the sufficient bone density for normal grafts, and are typically made using bones that had been removed from consenting patients during surgeries such as hip replacements.
Over 18 tons of bones and over 34,000 products were seized from the company whose general manager – surnamed Su – confessed to stealing thousands of bodies from crematoriums in Yunnan, Chongqing, Guizhou and Sichuan.
Yi has stated that the company made profits of around RMB380 million from selling the bones for dental grafts, and that at least 75 suspects have been detained throughout the investigation.
For the latest China news stories, follow our official WeChat account, ThatsBeijing.
[Cover image via Ai]
0 User Comments