Gold teeth hoard discovered in crematorium warehouse... found to be stolen from corpses

Large Amount of Substance Presumed to Be Gold Teeth Found at Cremation Facility
Yeosu City "Similar Incident 10 Years Ago... Reported to Investigation Agency"

At a cremation facility located in Yeosu, a large quantity of metal substances presumed to be gold teeth was discovered, prompting the police to launch an investigation.

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On the 13th, Yeosu City and the police announced that they had found metal substances presumed to be gold teeth at Yeongnak Park, a municipal cemetery, and referred the matter to investigative authorities. The substances were discovered by an employee inside Yeongnak Park last December while organizing a storage room at the cremation facility and reported it.

The police are investigating the reasons why the gold teeth were not disposed of but kept at the cremation facility by questioning related personnel. Yeosu City also conducted its own investigation and handed over related materials to the investigative authorities, citing past cases where gold teeth taken from corpses were embezzled and sold. Additionally, the city stated that although the cremation facility is operated according to relevant laws, it recognized that detailed guidelines for corpse handling were not established and thus created and implemented the "Operational Guidelines for Corpse Handling" last month.

Yeosu City officials said, "If gold teeth or similar items are found before corpse processing, we obtain the consent of the bereaved family and record it in the log, then dispose of them immediately with the presence of at least two staff members after obtaining consent." They added, "A similar incident occurred 10 years ago, so the case has been handed over to investigative authorities."

Meanwhile, in 2020, funeral director A was booked after being caught secretly entering the funeral hall's storage room and stealing gold teeth from a corpse's mouth. A is accused of using pliers and tweezers to extract gold teeth from corpses stored in the refrigerated storage. During police questioning, A stated, "Due to financial difficulties, I committed the crime thinking I should at least pull out and sell the gold teeth from the corpses while working at the mortuary."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.