Hundreds of graves forced open by unidentified men in Sierra Leone

Hundreds of graves in at least six cemeteries in the capital have been "forcibly opened" by unidentified men dressed in black over the past two months, municipal authorities told the national broadcaster, Sierra Leone Broadcasting Corporation, on Wednesday.

According to the Environmental Officer, Sulaiman Parker of the Freetown City Council, at least 400 graves have been forced open and corpses tampered with at the Ascension Cemetery in the west of the city in recent months.

"At the (nearby) Kingtom Cemetery, 300 more graves have also been vandalised and body parts taken from corpses," said Parker.

"We have had similar happenings in the past and we had assessed them as mainly economic crimes where robbers steal expensive jewelleries, watches, rings and other ornaments from corpses but we are now seeing the removal of body parts and suspecting that it is more connected to fetish and ritual practices than anything else," he said.

Parker said all cemeteries were monitored during the daytime from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. by the Council's unarmed Metropolitan Police, but called for a permanent deployment of armed police to stop the menace.

Residents living adjacent to the two cemeteries told Xinhua that they heard noises during the night from these cemeteries nearly every week.

"It's so disturbing that it affects your sleep. We are afraid to go out as these people (grave robbers) may be armed," an anonymous resident said. Endit