How Do You Extradite a Cannibal?

Anthony Hopkins in Hannibal, 2001. (De Laurentiis/MGM Universal/The Kobal Collection)

Suspected Canadian cannibal Luka Magnotta, accused of hacking up his lover with an ice pick, eating some body parts and sticking others in the mail, will soon be extradited from Germany where he was arrested on Monday.

All of which raises the obvious question: How do you transfer a cannibal?

If your suspect is Hannibal Lecter, you're in luck. At least you've got a screenplay to follow.

First, you'll need a hand truck. Then, according to "Silence of the Lambs," you'll need to secure your serial killer to said hand truck with "steel restraints" and some "heavy canvas webbing." Toss in a straight jacket for good measure, and a hockey mask to keep him from snacking on you and ? voila! ? he's ready for extradition.

But truth is sometimes stranger than fiction; Lecter never mailed his victims' body parts.

Canadian authorities have let slip some of the goriest details of Magnotta's accused crimes. Police confirmed that the one-time porn actor videotaped the alleged murder and appears to be seen having sex with the dismembered corpse of his victim Chinese student Jun Lin, 33, and putting knife and fork to his flesh.

But one thing authorities are remaining tight lipped about is just how they will transport Magnotta, 29, from Germany back to Canada. Repatriation could happen sometime as early the end of this week, following an extradition hearing. Magnotta is currently being held in a Berlin jail.

De Laurentiis/MGM Universal/The Kobal Collection

Anthony Hopkins in Hannibal, 2001. View Full Size

De Laurentiis/MGM Universal/The Kobal Collection

Anthony Hopkins in Hannibal, 2001.

Canada's Ministry of Justice would not comment on its procedures "for security reasons," hinting in statement to ABC News only that security practices change given a set of "specific circumstances."

The U.S. is similarly taciturn when it comes to revealing how prisoners are transferred.

A spokeswoman for the U.S. Marshal said the agency also would not comment on practices for security reasons. "But can you at least confirm whether a hockey mask is ever involved," asked ABC News. "No," said the spokeswoman. "What about a straight jacket?"

A former deputy U.S. Marshal shed some light on the procedures but said "even in retirement, there are rules on what needs to remain secret."

The former deputy, who asked that his name not be used because he feared reprisals from the Marshals, said the agency sometimes engages commercial aircraft to transport prisoners but a violent suspect likely would be taken on "special plane."

What about the straight jacket and hockey mask?

"Deputies use whatever is necessary for the security of themselves and the security of the prisoner," he said, but doubted such equipment had or would be used.

"A routine transfer usually just involves handcuffs and leg irons," he said.

On Monday Magnotta was arrested at a Berlin internet café. The following day two Vancouver elementary schools received body parts, a hand and a foot, in the mail, which police now believe belonged to his victim Jun Lin.

Lin, was last seen on May 24 and was reported missing to the Chinese consulate on May 29, according to the Montreal Police Department.

On the same day, a human foot was found by a receptionist who received a blood-soaked package at the Ottawa headquarters of the Conservative Party of Canada. A second package containing a hand was seized at a post office in Ottawa later in the day.

Hours later, a janitor in Montreal found a male torso in a suitcase behind the apartment building in the Cote-des-Neiges neighborhood, in which Magnotta lived.