THE Kingston and St Andrew Corporation (KSAC) last night said it would probe allegations that criminals are breaking into graves at May Pen Cemetery and removing and burning humans remains then reselling caskets in what is believed to be a multimillion-dollar operation.

Town Clerk Robert Hill said the investigation will be carried out after he was contacted and questioned about amateur video footage showing burnt skeletal remains in a grave at the cemetery, one of the largest burial sites in the country.

The video footage also showed what appeared to be a human skull and several other body parts in the uncovered grave. Several other uncovered graves were seen.

Sources claim that the burnt remains were the end result of an operation being carried out by criminals.

The footage has emerged just over a month after a similar claim was made in March after residents, who live in communities near the cemetery, had to chase away a man who had broken into a grave, removed a casket, and was caught wiping down the item.

The remains in the casket had been tossed aside.

The Jamaica Observer was told that, approximately 7:30 am on March 9, the police were called to the area after a man was seen digging away at a tomb that was sealed a week earlier.

Yesterday, when contacted about the fresh set of claims, Hill said: “I have received no such report, but it is a matter that I will be launching my own investigation.

“When I came into office I heard that things of that nature happen from time to time, but since I have been in office I have not received any reports or have any sight of such incidents,” the town clerk said.

He also said that the KSAC was looking to implement both short- and long-term plans to address the state of the cemetery.

Yesterday, noted entertainer Paul Elliot told the Sunday Observer that he has been carrying out a desperate search for the graves of his mother and two brothers.

“I went to the cemetery to ‘retomb’ my mother and my two brothers’ graves and what I saw has left me disturbed,” Elliot said.

“When I went to the location where the graves are supposed to be located they were nowhere to be found,” he lamented.

The entertainer said he was left further disturbed when he found that in and around where his relatives were buried numerous broken graves were found, many of them covered with overgrown vegetation.

“What I have found has left me really distraught. The cemetery is supposed to be a place where Jamaicans bring their families to bury, this is supposed to be a final resting spot, and to see the state has left me angry,” said Elliot.

A colleague of Elliot, Claude Sinclair, expressed similar sentiments.

“I believe someone will have to provide some answers. This is unacceptable,” said Sinclair.