Brussels Jewish cemetery desecrated in possible robbery

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(JTA) — A Jewish cemetery was desecrated in Brussels in what police describe as a possible grave robbery.

A visitor to Dieweg cemetery discovered the desecration on Sept. 13. After he alerted police, they found four coffins that had been dug up and human bones scattered near them.

The perpetrators extracted the coffins from an underground crypt which contained 800 bodies, according to the Belgian newspaper HLN.

The paper quoted a police source as saying grave robbers in search of jewellery may have been responsible for the desecration.

According to HLN, the perpetrators left no slogan or message, the typical calling cards of anti-Semitic grave desecrators in Europe. 

The last body known to have been buried at Dieweg was just after World War II.

Police also said they had no leads as to the identity of the perpetrators and that the desecration itself may have occurred months ago.

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