By JAJAH COULIBALY –

MORE than five famous local artistes have been implicated in the recent ritual killing of four men in Lusaka’s George Township.
According to sources that included musicians, the body parts were being taken for a mass human sacrifice in a neighbouring country where some Zambian celebrities allegedly go to attain fame.
Three of the named popular musicians linked to the alleged ritual killings have since been released after being detained for more than five days in different police stations.
Police sources confirmed the detention of the musicians to the Sunday Times during the week, but refused to give further details for fear of jeopardising investigations.
Lusaka Province police chief Nelson Phiri said the police had intensified investigations in the matter and would inform the nation at an appropriate time.
But sources in the music industry and close relatives of the deceased revealed that more than three influential local artistes linked to the ritual killings had been arrested.
“All I can say is that as police we have made tremendous progress but we will not go into further details because investigations are still ongoing,” the source said.
The source, who is also a musician, said there was a ready market for body parts in South Africa where veteran musicians were selling them.
The artiste said the senior musicians were using young musicians to keep the body parts and later pick them when they were ready to travel abroad to sell them.
The body parts of the four men, including a woman’s breasts, were of the four people recently murdered and were believed to have been found in a hidden deep freezer and in an upcoming artiste’s bedroom.
The other artiste close to the suspects said he was shocked to learn that his friend had been linked to such barbaric acts.
Residents in the area recently burnt a police post in anger following reports that the suspects had been apprehended.
The four were recently found dead with ears, private parts, tongues and other body parts missing.