The bodies were sold as substitutes for those buried
A self-professed sorcerer has been detained in Guangdong for allegedly killing 10 men and selling their bodies to bereaved families who refused to have their own family members cremated.
The 34-year-old man, identified only by the surname Lin, had strangled or poisoned his victims - who were mostly retarded - since February at his home behind a temple in Jieyang, eastern Guangdong, local media said.
Lin then sold the corpses for 1,000 yuan to 8,000 yuan to families who had them cremated in place of their relatives, the reports said.
Lin and a partner were caught earlier this month while plying their trade in Shantou, the report said.
Tong Xiaopin, deputy director at the Sociology Institute of the Guangzhou Academy of Social Sciences, said that although cremation was required by Chinese law, many mainlanders still believed that burial would bring peace to the deceased and bless their offspring.