Brazil ? Surgeons on Friday successfully removed four sewing needles from the lung and near the heart of a Brazilian toddler, allegedly plunged into him by his stepfather during a monthlong series of bizarre rituals.

The surgery lasted nearly five hours and the 2-year-old boy was in stable condition after the procedure, said Susy Moreno, a spokeswoman for the hospital in the northeastern city of Salvador where the boy was in intensive care.

“He’s OK, the surgery was a success, he’s doing fine,” she said in a telephone interview.

Dozens more needles measuring up to 2 inches in length remain inside the boy’s body, but the four removed were considered the most life-threatening.

Police say the boy’s stepfather, 30-year-old bricklayer Roberto Carlos Magalhaes, confessed to pushing supposedly “blessed” sewing needles deep into the child because his lover told him to while in trances.