http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/20 ... 567597.htm

Last Update: Saturday, February 11, 2006. 10:12am (AEDT)
Woman charged with 'smuggling human head'
A Haitian national who packed a skull in her suitcase on a flight to Florida's Fort Lauderdale airport in the US has been charged with "smuggling a human head".

US prosecutors say they have also charged Florida resident Myrlene Severe, who was arrested on Thursday, with failing to declare the head on a customs declaration form and transporting hazardous material.

They say the skull had "organic matter" on it.

"Severe stated that she had obtained the package, which contained the human head, from a male in Haiti for use as a part of her voodoo beliefs," the US attorney for the Southern District of Florida said in a statement.

"Severe also stated that the purpose of the package was to ward off evil spirits," the US attorney's office also said.

While 80 per cent of Haiti's 8.5 million people are Roman Catholic and 16 per cent Protestant, more than half also say they practice voodoo, an Afro-Caribbean religion whose roots go back to Africa.

Each of the charges carries a maximum punishment of five years in prison.

It was unclear who Severe's attorney was, but the prosecutor's office said bail was set at $US100,000 during an initial appearance before a US magistrate in Fort Lauderdale, and Severe would be arraigned on March 2.

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