[News Today] BURIAL URN THIEVES DEMAND MONEY

[LEAD]
A heinous crime has unfolded in Jejudo- Island. Thieves targeted an ossuary, stealing cremation urns and demanding a ransom in the billions. The culprits, Chinese nationals who entered visa-free, have fled the country.

[REPORT]
Two Chinese men each carrying a hammer walk into the ossuary at a Buddhist temple in Jeju.

They use a suction machine to lift out the glass panel and proceed to place the burial urn in a bag.

They stole six urns in total. The missing urns were reported by the families visiting the ossuary.

Family member/(VOICE MODIFIED)
I was so shocked. My only thoughts were to find it no matter what. My siblings
who lived far away all came here after hearing the news.

The thieves apparently showed the ossuary employees the photos of the stolen urns and demanded approximately 2.8 billion won, almost two million U.S. dollars, for the return of the urns.

Temple ossuary employee/(VOICE MODIFIED)
We were contacted through Telegram. They told us to wire USD 2 mn if we
wanted the urns back.

Police searched the nearby mountains for two days before finding the urns buried in the ground and returned the remains to the families.

The Chinese thieves had reportedly scouted the charnel house beforehand and prepared thoroughly for the crime.

Choi Jae-ho/ Jeju Dongbu Police Station
They scouted two ossuaries before choosing the target. The crime was planned
thoroughly, visiting the targeted ossuary three times.

The police have discovered that the thieves who entered Jeju visa-free escaped overseas right after the crime and asked Interpol to issue a Red Notice.