“Two ribs, two Achilles heels, two elbows, two eardrums, two teeth, and so on'' ... a relative holds a picture of Oleksandr Frolov, some of whose body parts were found during a raid by Ukrainian authorities.

“Two ribs, two Achilles heels, two elbows, two eardrums, two teeth, and so on'' ... a relative holds a picture of Oleksandr Frolov, some of whose body parts were found during a raid by Ukrainian authorities. Photo: Konstantin Chernichkin/Kyiv Post

Kate Willson, Vlad Lavrov, Martina Keller, Thomas Maier and Gerard Ryle

On February 24, Ukrainian authorities made an alarming discovery: bones and other human tissues crammed into coolers in a grimy white minibus.

From day one, everything was forged; everything, because we could. As long as the paperwork looked good, it was fine

Investigators grew even more intrigued when they found, amid the body parts, envelopes stuffed with cash and autopsy results written in English.

Bottles of human tissue labelled ''Made in Germany, Tutogen" that were were seized by Ukrainian authorities.

Bottles of human tissue labelled ''Made in Germany, Tutogen" that were were seized by Ukrainian authorities. MykolaivSeizure1.jpg

What the security service had disrupted was not the work of a serial killer but part of an international pipeline of ingredients for medical and dental products that are routinely implanted into people around the world.

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The seized documents suggested that the remains of dead Ukrainians were destined for a factory in Germany belonging to the subsidiary of a US medical products company, Florida-based RTI Biologics.