By Bappa Majumdar Tue Jun 19, 7:13 AM ET

KOLKATA, India (Reuters) – Indian police have discovered a stash of hundreds of human skulls and thigh bones and arrested a gang for allegedly smuggling them to the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan for use in Buddhist monasteries.

“During interrogation they confessed that the hollow human thigh bones were in great demand in monasteries and were used as blow-horns, and the skulls as vessels to drink from at religious ceremonies,” investigating officer Ravinder Nalwa said on Tuesday.

It was the second cache of bones found in eastern India since April and police now believe the region could be the centre of a much broader trade in human bones. They suspect some bones may even have ended up as far away as Thailand and Japan.

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Buddhist monks in India said human thigh bones and skulls were used by followers of a Tibetan school of Buddhism.

“But one or two bones would last a lifetime, so a racket this huge might have links to other countries,” said Bhikkhu Bodhipala, chief priest of the Mahabodhi temple in Bodh Gaya.

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