SEOUL: Two Chinese students have been detained on suspicion of selling diet pills containing human flesh, South Korean authorities have said.
The two female students, who were studying in Jeju, South Korea, allegedly bought the 3,000 diet pills and 500 “detox” pills from a Chinese website for a total of 2,320,000 won ($2,000). They then smuggled the pills into the South Korean island province, where they distributed them to 80 buyers for three times the price.
Subsequent testing at Jeju’s National Forensic Services revealed that the seized pills contained traces of a substance that had a “100 per cent match with human flesh.” In addition, the pills were found to contain phenolphthalein and sibutramine – two illegal substances associated with an increased risk of cancer, heart attack, and stroke. Jeju authorities are now expanding their investigation in an effort to prevent similar drugs from reaching the city.
