Hanoi, Vietnam - Police arrested two men in southern Vietnam for allegedly attempting to send a human skull to a relative in the United States to be used as a prayer idol, state-controlled media reported Monday.
Doan Ngoc Phang, 37 and Huynh Thai Son, 49, were arrested in Ho Chi Minh City on Sunday and accused of "encroaching on graves and remains," the Ho Chi Minh City Law newspaper said.
The case was uncovered last week when customs officials found the skull stuffed in a plaster bust. Phang said he paid Son 1.6 million dong (US$100) for the skull, which he tried to send to a relative in California who wanted to use it to pray for prosperity, according to the paper.
Police are investigating where Son got the skull, the paper said.