New York policeman 'in cannibal plot'
A New York City policeman has been arrested for an alleged plot to kidnap women, rape and torture them and then cook and eat their body parts.
The FBI says Gilberto Valle emailed an unidentified co-conspirator to discuss details of the ghoulish plan.
No women were hurt, officials say, but Mr Valle, 28, allegedly used police databases to gather information on a list of potential victims.
He was assigned to a police precinct in Manhattan and lives in Queens.
The officer is expected to appear in a federal court to face kidnapping charges on Thursday.
'Meeting potential victim'
Federal officials say they learned about Mr Valle's plan in September after he discussed it on emails and instant messages from his home computer.
According to the complaint, he and his co-conspirator discussed using chloroform to make victims lose consciousness, before bringing them back to Mr Valle's kitchen.
"I was thinking of tying her body onto some kind of apparatus... cook her over low heat, keep her alive as long as possible," Mr Valle wrote in one online exchange in July, says the complaint.
He met one potential victim over lunch, say the authorities.
His co-conspirator allegedly asked him: "How was your meal?" to which Mr Valle is said to have replied: "I am meeting her."
The complaint alleges that the accused negotiated in February to kidnap another woman for someone else, writing: "$5,000 and she's all yours."
It says he added: "I will really get off on knocking her out, tying up her hands and bare feet and gagging her. Then she will be stuffed into a large piece of luggage and wheeled out to my van."
A search of his computer allegedly revealed files kept on at least 100 women, each with a name and photograph and often personal details such as addresses and descriptions.
"The allegations in the complaint really need no description from us. They speak for themselves," FBI acting assistant director Mary Galligan said in a statement.
Chief Manhattan federal prosecutor Preet Bharara said: "This case is all the more disturbing when you consider Valle's position as a New York City police officer and his sworn duty to serve and protect."
