Robbers Cut Woman's Hair With A Machete

The newest crime? Hair robbery. Women in Brazil have it particularly hard as robbers appear to be targeting them so they can slash off their hair with machetes and ostensibly sell it for wigs.

The Associated Press reports that the latest attack occurred in the northeastern city of Aracaju on Tuesday, Jan. 22 as two men on a motorcycle grabbed a woman as she was walking to church. They pulled out a machete and chopped off her waist-length hair that she had been growing for 20 years. Police officer Antonio Williams da Silva told AP that the woman's hair was more than four feet long. The bandits cut it just above her shoulders. "A hairpiece that size could cost you as much" as $550, da Silva explained to AP, offering a possible motive for the bizarre crime. The woman was not injured. The assailants remain at large, but could be charged with battery if they are ever caught.

Da Silva said it was the second recent case of hair robbery in Aracaju, and similar attacks have been reported in other Brazilian cities. Last year, 22-year-old Mirna Marchet was riding a bus in Rio de Janeiro when bandits with scissors cut her hair that she had been growing for four years.