Grave Robbing

Grave robbing is probably the second or third oldest profession. From a purely logically point of view, it serves the useful purpose of putting gold back into circulation that would otherwise essentially go to "waste." From the Telegraph:

Last week, police in the French capital arrested three people as part of a widening grave robbery investigation.

Police said sky-high market prices for precious metals are acting as a magnet for thieves with scant regard for the living or the dead.
In Pantin cemetery, in the north of Paris, dozens of bodies have recently been dug up, with gold teeth and jewellery stolen from them.
Police sources said the three men seized last week were gravediggers employed by the city's cemeteries.
Last month, four other men – three from the same Pantin cemetery – were arrested and placed under investigation for aggravated theft, grave robbery and violating the integrity of a corpse.

According to a source close to the investigation, the men removed personal belongings from corpses in the freshest graves, opening them in the dead of night.

I have to wonder, though, if this is really something new, or if it is a case of the police suddenly paying more attention to it.