Chinese man caught transporting two human arms By News from Elsewhere...

...as found by BBC Monitoring Published duration 8 August 2017

image copyright PEAR VIDEO image caption Staff at a Duyun bus station picked up the human arms on their security scanners.

Security officials in southwest China recently had a nasty surprise when they found a man transporting two human arms, it's reported.

According to Pear Video , a 50-year-old man surnamed Zheng was approached by authorities at a bus station in Duyun, Guizhou province, after the limbs showed up on the station's security scanner on 31 July.

"I asked him what was in the bag, and he said it was an arm," a security guard told Pear Video.

According to the South China Morning Post , staff immediately detained him, suspecting that he had been involved in a murder.

However, Mr Zheng explained that he had been transporting the body parts for his brother, who had had them amputated after an electric incident.

Mr Zheng said that his brother had asked for his help in transporting the limbs back to him, so that when he dies, his body can be buried in one piece. Mr Zheng was released by the authorities after the hospital treating his brother verified the story.

It is a traditional Chinese belief that the body should be cremated or buried whole after someone has died, in order to be at peace. However, many online readers are bewildered by the story, given that medical personnel are required to secure permits for the transportation of human body parts in China.

image copyright PEAR VIDEO image caption Security scans are standard procedure at Chinese bus stations.

Reporting by Kerry Allen

Next story: Chinese restaurant offers bra size discounts