Want China Times
Date: 2015-09-11
By: Staff Reporter
A group of young grave robbers from Yunlin county in central Taiwan has been sentenced to
Ringleader Cheng Ho-jen is detained by police after looting graves in Yunlin county, Feb. 23, 2013.
prison after breaking into at least 127 graves across the island and making off with items worth at least NT$10 million (US$300,000), reports our Chinese-language sister paper China Times.
The ringleader, 24-year-old Cheng Ho-jen, was sentenced to five years in prison.
The work of the “Generation E” team, all under 24 years of age, was described as sophisticated and professional. They would pinpoint targeted graves using location services on their smartphones during the day before sweeping through the cemetery at night.
The group apparently performed their own ceremony “apologizing” to the dead before relieving them of their valuables.
In 2013, the group looted around 80% of the tombs in one cemetery in Yunlin county, over 30 graves. Their activities became known when an older woman seeking a place to relieve herself sank her foot into a grave that had been dug up, prompting a police investigation that uncovered the group’s existence. [FULL STORY]
