Six people have been arrested in Spain for their alleged roles in a cemetery-robbing ring that saw mainly bronze crucifixes stolen from graves, crushed into tiny pieces and sold to be melted down.
The group allegedly removed hundreds of crosses from around 20 cemeteries in towns across the central Toledo province, said police.
Officers on Saturday morning seized 90 crucifixes that they believed had just been stolen from one cemetery. They then raided a unit on an industrial estate in the Madrid region and found thousands of Euros in cash and pieces of crucifixes weighing around 2,200 pounds. Documents detailing the sale of the stolen metal were also discovered, according to reports.
Guardia Civil police shared footage from the operation on X, formerly Twitter:
#OperacionesGC | Detenidas 4 personas por el #robo de crucifijos en cementerios de #Toledo y otras 2 por delitos de #receptacin
Intervenidos 1000kg de trozos de imgenes de cristos, una trituradora, 17440 y documentacin sobre las compras/ventas pic.twitter.com/CRPxGMCT9T
#OperacionesGC | Detenidas 4 personas por el #robo de crucifijos en cementerios de #Toledo y otras 2 por delitos de #receptacin
Guardia Civil (@guardiacivil) June 30, 2024
Intervenidos 1000kg de trozos de imgenes de cristos, una trituradora, 17440 y documentacin sobre las compras/ventas pic.twitter.com/CRPxGMCT9T
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Police have arrested four people on suspicion of theft and two others on suspicion of receiving stolen goods. None of the suspects have been named.
In an article detailing the wave of thefts last month, English language newspaper Sur in English noted the sought-after status of bronze had turned cemeteries into an easy target for gangs.
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