London, Apr 16 (ANI): Three Brazilian cannibals have been arrested for cooking their victims and turning them into pastries, the police has revealed.

Karate expert Jorge Beltrao Negromonte, his wife Isabel Pires, 51, and his mistress Bruna da Silva, 25, lured the women to their house with the promise to work as a nanny.

According to the police, the sick trio then killed their victims and used the flesh to make stuffed pastries known as empanadas that they sold to neighbours in Pernambuco in the northeastern part of the country.

Da Silveira was said by police to have had a 50-page book with details and drawings of cannibalism

Details of the horrific crimes emerged last week after officers came across a 50-page book belonging to Da Silveira, which included drawings and details of cannibalism.

Police have found two bodies in the garden of a house belonging to the group.

They believe the bodies found could be those of Alexandra Falcao, 20, and Gisele da Silva, 30, who were reported missing in the area recently.

The two women were reportedly seen near the house of the suspects shortly before they disappeared.

The killings mirror those of the fictional barber 'Sweeney Todd' who slit the throats of his victims in his shop in Fleet Street.

Todd's partner in crime Mrs Lovett helps him to dispose the bodies by baking their flesh into meat pies, and selling them to the unsuspecting customers of her shop.

The Brazillian cannibals belonged to a sect that preached the purification of the world and the reduction of its population, Inspector Wesley Fernandes in the city of Garanhuns said.

Fernandes said the three were arrested last Wednesday and had confessed to the crimes. He added that they planned to kill three women each year.

They allegedly already had plans for murdering a woman living in the nearby city of Lagoa do Ouro.

The cannibals were tracked down after one of the arrested women used a credit card belonging to a victim who disappeared last month.

Neighbours of the trio set fire to the house where the bodies were found on Thursday, according to Brazilian media. (ANI)