Grave Looting, A Booming Business Now In Liberia

Looting of graves has become one of the fastest means by which some people make money in Liberia, despite several warnings and arrest of culprits. Materials found with people arrested or detected to be missing in thousands of looted graves included, human parts, ornaments and other items used in burying the dead. The Ghana News Agency investigations in Monrovia have revealed that most of the items stolen from the graves were sold to foreigners. Corroborating the matter, Mrs Marie Norman, Acting Director, City Planning Department of the Monrovia City Corporation said information gathered so far showed the emergence of the market for dead human parts that was mainly patronised by foreigners in that country. Last Wednesday March 12, 2008 was marked as a republic holiday in Liberia for all citizens to visit gravesites of relatives and decorate them as a sign of respect for the dead. The day is termed as National Decoration Day. A day before the holiday, one of the Liberian dailies, the "New Democrat" showed a picture of a woman on its front page with cloth covering her nose and looking into the grave of her relative which had been looted. Mrs Norman said the last inspection conducted before the day revealed that over 2,000 graves had been looted in just two opposite cemeteries in Monrovia called Palm Grove Graveyard. She said the situation had created a lot of worry for the Monrovia City Authority because people day in day out thronged their offices with complaints that their graves had been ransacked. "We are doing our best to stop this menace and protect the cemetery and appeal to those affected with the menace to exercise patience. "Just last week we arrested a Liberian lady with human tooth and some human bones on her," Mrs Norman said, and wondered why human beings could do such a horrible thing. When the GNA visited the cemetery, thousands of people from far and near Monrovia had come whitewashing the tombs and decorating them with flowers and inscriptions to symbolise their ties with the dead. While some were found shedding tears, others used the occasion to sell all kinds of items at the cemetery.