Montreal police probe 'Holocaust' soap

Canadian authorities are testing swastika-engraved soap seized from a Montreal shop to see if, as advertised, it was made from the human remains of Holocaust victims, police told AFP Friday.

The soap was seized last week from a curiosity shop on Saint Laurent Boulevard in downtown Montreal after outraged Jewish groups complained.

The results of laboratory tests are expected in the coming days, a police spokeswoman said.

"The store owner claimed it was made from human remains, from the human fat of Jews killed in the Holocaust," she said, adding that the shopkeeper is cooperating in the investigation.

"We seized the soap and it is now being analyzed at a laboratory to verify the veracity of the claim, or whether it's just a really bad joke."

According to Canada's public broadcaster, the store owner is himself Jewish, and told the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation he purchased the item from a former soldier.

It was on sale for $300.

Historians have dismissed reports that the Nazis mass-produced soap from the remains of Holocaust victims during World War II, but have said they may have experimented in making soap from fat in extermination camps.