Doha • Four Asians have been rounded up and produced in a criminal court on charges of cannibalism. They are accused of killing a colleague, also an Asian, and devouring his body, reports Al Sharq.

Rumours had been circulating in the city about a crime where a human flesh had been cooked and eaten. This has been now confirmed.

This is the first such incident of its kind reported not just in Qatar but in the region, the daily said. It pointed out the quartet chose to eat the body of the deceased to hide the fact they had murdered him.

The incident came to light when one of the four accused suffered from severe reactions after eating human flesh and was subsequently rushed to the Emergency Department of Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC).

Doctors attending to him sent him in for an X-ray. The result clearly showed the outline of a human finger in his stomach sending the doctors into a tizzy. They immediately gathered their wits about them and called in the police.

The hospitalised man was taken into custody and confessed to having eaten the flesh of a colleague along with his three cronies. His three accomplices were soon arrested and they admitted to having committed the crime.

The foursome was produced in a criminal court with the prosecution demanding that they be remanded to police custody for further interrogation. The court immediately acceded to the prosecution’s demand.

Legal circles said they presume the accused may be extensively interrogated to find if they had been involved in a similar crime here before.

Meanwhile, a report published recently by an Indian language daily published here identified the four accused as Vietnamese nationals and said their alleged victim was from Nepal. The daily, however, clarified the nationalities were based on rumours.