Fear has gripped the Mpatasie community in the Berekum Municipality of the Bono Region following reports of grave looting in the area.

The residents woke up Monday January 13, 2024 to a shocking discovery of the looting of about five graves at the Mpatasie cemetery.

Though the intentions of the suspected grave looters remained unknown for now, rumours circulating in the area revealed that the crime was being committed for ritual purposes.

During a visit, Nana Asomah-Kyereh Effah II, the Krontrihene (sub-chief) of the community told Sompa FM that the residents suspected that the grave looters were using human parts for money rituals because some vital parts of some of the exhumed bodies had gone missing.

Condemning the act, the chief urged the resident to remain calm assuring that the traditional leaders in the town would conduct thorough and expeditious investigations into the matter for the necessary action to be taken.

He also warned those involved in the crime to stop or have themselves to be blamed, saying "the chiefs will also consult the local deity in their investigations".

Some of the youth who spoke to Sompa FM expressed concern about the growing menace of the get-rich syndrome, popularly known in the area as "sakawa" and internet fraud, alleging that some of the youth involved in the crime used rituals to influence their unsuspecting targets for money.

Sompaonline.com/K.Peprah