Grave looters vandalise Tafo cemetery
On April 30, 2024, 6:06 AM
Grave looters have destroyed the Tafo Cemetery in Kumasi in the Ashanti Region.
Based on reports from cemetery workers, the perpetrators, locally known as âCondemnâ people, dig up graves to remove iron rods used to cover the graves.
The culprits sell the items in good condition and pocket the money.
Scenes from the cemetery show some of the graves wide open, exposing the bones of the dead bodies.
âThese âCondemnâ people visit the cemetery at night, dig the graves, break into the concrete and take away the iron rods that were used to cover the graves. These unscrupulous people, especially target graves that are 10 years and above, break them and take away the iron rods, which they sell for small money.
âThe breaking of the graves is increasing on a daily basis, and authorities should act quickly,â a cemetery worker, who demanded anonymity, noted.
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He added that if the negative trend continues very soon, it would be difficult for people to visit the graves of their loved ones who have been buried.
In a similar incident, grave looters destroyed multiple graves at a Takoradi cemetery in December 2023, causing fear and concern among residents.
Numerous graves were reportedly looted in the cemetery, which shares a wall with the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) Depot along the Takoradi â Kwesimintsim highway.
Some of the caskets were stolen, leaving the corpses exposed and some body parts reportedly missing.
This prompted some residents whose relatives were laid to rest at the cemetery to rush to the scene to check on them after hearing of the development.
Some residents also blamed the authorities for neglecting the cemetery after relatives paid to secure a burial site for their deceased.
Abdul Karim Hudu, the Environmental Analyst at the Sekondi Takoradi Metropolitan Assembly (STMA), told reporters that over 30 graves were vandalized.
