Blackmailing urn thief jailed

A man named Tu Yuanchun, who stole urns from gravesites and then blackmailed the decedents' relatives, has been sentenced by Tongzhou court to 21 months in jail for extortion and fined 3,000 yuan, the Beijing Times reported.

A man surnamed Zhang living in Tongzhou district discovered that his father's grave had been dug up and that the urn of ashes was missing. Then he saw a note with a telephone number on the nearby telegraph pole. Zhang dialed the number, and no one answered. Then he was blackmailed for 16,000 yuan via text message from that phone number. Zhang called the police and Tu was apprehended.