Americans suspected of trying to ship baby body parts flee Thailand

Thai Police have launched an investigation after the body parts of several babies were discovered in parcels addressed for the United States

Thai Police have launched an investigation after the body parts of several babies were discovered in parcels addressed for the United States.

After launching an investigation into the discovery of body parts inside parcels intended for the United States, Thai Police said on Monday that two Americans suspected of trying to send the packages had fled the country.

A Bangkok shipping company found parcels containing infant and adult body parts in plastic containers destined for Las Vegas on Saturday.

Police said staff at the company had scanned the parcels and discovered a baby's head, a baby's foot sliced into three parts, a heart and a "sheet of skin" with tattoo markings. All the parts had been stored in plastic containers filled with formaldehyde and are believed to have been taken from a medical museum.

"X-rays showed there were contents similar to human body parts. From our investigation of three parcels we found human body parts in five plastic containers," Police Lieutenant General Ruangsak Jaritake, assistant to the National Police Commissioner, told reporters.

"The packages were marked 'children's toys' but x-rays showed they were not children's toys."

Ruangsak also said that the heart had stab marks and belonged to an adult.

Ruangsak said two American suspects, aged 31 and 33, were being monitored and that both had fled Thailand on Sunday. He said the FBI would be contacted shortly.

Doctors at Bangkok's Siriraj Hospital said that the body parts were taken from the hospital's Medical Museum, which exhibits preserved human remains.

"We can confirm that they were stolen from Siriraj," Udom Kachintorn, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine Siriraj Hospital, said, adding that two Americans had visited the museum last month.

He added that the two Americans visited the museum last month.

Additional reporting by Reuters.