Palma cemetery under surveillance

The pilfering has been carried out, a spokesman said, in the most callous fashion with robbers even removing the metal frame around photographs of the deceased placed at the heads of the vaults, and the name plaques off the sepulchres.

Municipal sources said that the matter of the thefts had become a protracted affair because many of the families whose relatives are buried in the cemetery, and who became victims of the desecration, refused to lodge legal complaints over the outrage. “It would have been better if people had come forward,” said the source, “because now for many others it is too late.” Yesterday, families with vaults in the cemetery who had seen local press reports about raids on the tombs, were gathering to see whether or not their plots had been affected by the pilferers.

Local Police are now going to keep a watch on the most isolated and abandoned areas of the cemetery grounds and coordinate patrols with private security firms. In fact, there are already security cameras in the cemetery but more are to be put up to capture the images of any would-be thieves.

Police sources said that the metal stolen from the cemetery in recent weeks has been sold by weight to foundries in Palma which smelt it down.
There have been complaints that smelters should be made to set up systems to validate the source of metals which they buy and suggestions that some companies enjoy certain “protection” both in Palma and in outlying areas.