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News from the Caribbean as of
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Haitian human head smuggler pleads guilty in US court
Friday, April 14, 2006
MIAMI, USA (AFP): A Haitian woman pleaded guilty Wednesday to illegally bringing human remains into the United States after a head was found in her luggage for use in a voodoo ritual, a federal prosecutor's office said.
Myrlene Severe, 30, a Haitian resident of the United States, was caught with the head in her luggage when she arrived at the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport on February 9 on a flight that had originated in the northern Haitian city of Cap Haitien.
According to customs officials, the head had teeth, hair and pieces of skin, and Severe had bought it from a man in Haiti to use in a ritual of voodoo, a religion that mixes Roman Catholic beliefs and west African rituals that is mainly practiced in Haiti.
Severe was arrested on charges of smuggling and the transport of dangerous material aboard an aircraft. The charges were reduced to illegally importing human remains.
She will be sentenced in July by a federal court in Fort Lauderdale.
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