Three people, including a well-known adult film star, have been arrested over the death of a photographer during a shamanic ceremony involving poisonous toad venom in Spain.
Spain's law enforcement agency, the Guardia Civil, said fashion photographer José Luis Abad died in the ritual, involving the inhalation of venomous vapours from the bufo alvarius toad. It occurred last July in Enguera, Valencia, the Guardian reports.
In a statement, local authorities said two men and a woman, aged 37 to 50, had been arrested following an 11-month police investigation on suspicion of involuntary manslaughter and violating public health laws.
While the trio involved have not been named, the ceremony allegedly involved Spanish porn actor Nacho Vidal.
“Officers began the investigation after the death of a person during a mystical ritual involving the inhalation of vapours from the venom of the bufo alvarius toad,” the statement read.
“We have been able to establish that an offence of involuntary manslaughter and a public health offence had occurred, allegedly committed by those who organised and presided over the ritual.”
Officers said while the ritual appeared to be an "inoffensive ancestral ritual" carried out for "therapeutic or medicinal ends", it "posed a serious threat to public health".
Vidal’s lawyer, Daniel Salvador, said Mr Abad's death was accidental. He also denied suggestions Mr Vidal had acted as a shaman during the fatal ritual.
“Nacho is very upset by the death of this person, but he considers himself to be innocent," Mr Salvador told the Spanish news agency Efe.
He added that Vidal maintained that the consumption of the venom had been "completely voluntary".
The glands of the Bufo alvarius, also known as the Sonoran Desert toad or Colorado River toad, secretes 5-MeO-DMT and Bufotenin, which can create a psychoactive effect when vaporised.
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