Suspected French organ traffickers lynched by Madagascar mob

Two French men were killed in Madagascar on Thursday after being lynched by a crowd who suspected them of trying to traffic the organs of a murdered child.

Getty Images/Tom Cockrem

The incident took place in the northern isle of Nosy Be.

The French Consulate in Madagascar is now advising French citizens not to circulate in the area, especially near the beaches.

Local gendarme Guy Bobin Randriamaro said the two men called Sébastien and Roberto, “admitted under torture from the crowd that they were organ traffickers.”

“The two Europeans were killed and burned on the beach,” said a local police officer from Nosy Be Hell-Ville, Honoya Tilahizandry.

The violence began on Wednesday after an 8 year old boy disappeared.

An angry crowd gathered outside the Hell-Ville Gendarmerie, where it was thought the boy’s killer was being held.

Gendarmes say they fired into the air to try to disperse the crowd. At least one person died and two others were wounded.

On Thursday morning the boy’s dead body was found on the beach, with the tongue and penis missing, according to the gendarmerie.

The crowd suspected the two French men of the boy’s murder, and attempted organ-trafficking.

Police said on Thursday that the mob are still hunting for a third foreigner, a doctor whom they suspect of involvement in organ-trafficking.

The crowd also allegedly burned down eight houses occupied by gendarmes.