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Thieves are running amok in the streets of Congo's capital. Do they want wallets or gold chains? No, they want penises.

Recently, 13 alleged genital-snatchers have been arrested by city police and stand accused of using black magic to aid in their theft.

The purported victims claim the mere touch of these sidewalk sorcerers made their penises either shrink or disappear completely. (That's kind of what happens around the office when an Amy Winehouse drunken-escapade story breaks.) The magical thief will then extort the victim with the promise of his manhood's return.

"I'm tempted to say it's one huge joke," said police chief Jean-Dieudonne Oleko. "But when you try to tell the victims that their penises are still there, they tell you that it's become tiny or that they've become impotent."

Mindful that a similar phallic crime wave led to reprisals and 12 dead in Ghana a decade ago, authorities in Congo have been locking up the angry victims as well the accused.