Half a dozen workers at a crematorium in Gyeonggi Province were caught stealing melted gold teeth of the cremated and selling them to jewelers, police said Thursday.
According to the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, a 52-year-old man named Lee and five others, who worked as stokers at a crematorium in Gyeonggi Province, were booked without physical detention on charges of stealing and selling melted gold left on a brazier after bodies of those with gold teeth were cremated.
A 69-year-old jeweler surnamed Chae and two other individuals were also booked for buying the gold from the stokers.
Police said Lee, who worked at the crematorium from August 2006 to August 2010, raked in gold stuck on a brazier after the deceased were cremated on 25 separate occasions.
He sold the collected gold to Chae and reaped 20 million won ($19,000) in illegal gains in total. The other stokers also made 14 million won in the same manner since July last year.
Officers said the retrieved gold underwent the smelting process first and then was sold to jewelry shops.
Police said there are currently no specific rules on how to handle leftover gold at crematoria, which is supposed to be returned to the bereaved families.