Vilagers on Tuesday found the head of an alleged sorcerer floating in a lake in Kampot’s Kampong Trach district, months after his brutal decapitation.

Mao Chanmakthuristh, provincial deputy police chief, said the male victim, Yong Han, 49, was murdered in November and his headless body found in the same commune – Boeung Sala Kang Tbong – as the head.

“The victim’s head was hacked off, because he was accused of being a sorcerer,” he said. “After their arrest, the suspects did not tell police where the head was put.”

The deputy police chief added that Han was murdered while fishing on November 21.

Police arrested three men, accusing them of using a machete to the kill the victim, he added.

Han’s death is one of at least three murders in recent months of people accused of being sorcerers.

In a similar case in January, a man, 55, was murdered in Kampong Speu province. His body was later found, but his head remains missing.