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Intruders smear themselves with grease to avoid being caught
A recent wave of assaults in rural areas of Sri Lanka have left women fearful of new attacks by an old enemy: “grease devils,” according to a BBC News report.
“He looked like a gorilla, he was completely covered in black from top to toe. I couldn’t see his face or hands,” one elderly women said of a creature lurking by her house in a fishing village on Sri Lanka’s west coast.
The term “grease devil” refers to malevolent intruders who smear themselves with grease in order to avoid being caught.
The idea might seem quaint, but the reappearance of these “grease devils” has spurred vigilante attacks, killings, arrests and the deployment of military tanks. Worse, the assaults have exacerbated ethnic divisions since those reporting attacks from “grease devils” have tended to be Muslim or Tamil, rather than members of the country’s Sinhalese majority.
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