Gang ‘who chopped up woman and stuffed her in suitcase’ caught when excavator dug up arm

A gang who allegedly filmed themselves butchering a woman before stuffing her in a suitcase were caught after an excavator dug up her arm.

Gabriela Lima Santana, 21, was brutally dismembered and stuffed in a suitcase. Picture: Facebook

A gang who filmed themselves dismembering a woman’s body before stuffing it into a suitcase were caught after an excavator dug up her remains and police saw a copy of the vile video.

Gabriela Lima Santana, 21, was brutally butchered in a bathroom on camera to fit into the small case, in a suspected retaliation against a rival gang, local media reports.

The young woman was reported missing on March 13 — the day before her birthday — but is believed to have disappeared much earlier.

Her body was disposed of in a drainage ditch on March 24, before it was found by city council workers operating a mechanical digger to remove rubbish from the gully in Capao da Canoa, southern Brazil.

An excavator came across the case while trying to remove rubbish from the ditch in southern Brazil. Picture: Police Handout

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One of Gabriela’s arms allegedly flung out as the excavator attempted to remove the luggage in front of terrified employees, before it eerily landed in the water and floated on the surface in the city of Canoas.

The victim’s hacked-up head, torso, legs, and arms were also recovered from the suitcase by forensics experts, according to the news site Caboco.

Two kitchen knives and saws, believed to be the tools used to mutilate the 21-year-old, were also found inside the baggage, police said.

The suitcase also included stones, the Hora da Noticia reported, in an attempt to make it sink.

Gabriela was identified by her distinctive tattoos — one allegedly associated with a local gang — and her fingerprints, according to Caboco.

The gruesome discovery then led detectives in the homicide division to a new line of inquiry regarding a shocking video they had received on March 1, showing a woman’s body being dismembered in a bathroom.

A 23-year-old man has been arrested. Picture: Police Handout

A 49-year-old allegedly identified from the gruesome footage was arrested. Picture: Police Handout

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Disturbing footage allegedly shows a smiling assassin mutilating a woman’s corpse while a number of bin bags are strewn across the floor.

It is not known who filmed the video and how it was obtained by the police.

While trying to determine its authenticity, the investigation led officers to an apartment in the neighbourhood of Rio Branco, where one suspect was arrested.

Police believe the murder occurred at the property too, which reportedly had ties to local criminal gangs.

A 49-year-old man, reportedly identified from the footage, and a 23-year-old, who allegedly recorded the clip, have been arrested.

This article originally appeared on The Sun and is published here with permission.