Sierra Leone to deploy police at cemeteries as robbers steal human bones

Municipal authorities in Sierra Leone's capital have said they will deploy armed police personnel to protect cemeteries overnight after a spate of grave robberies involving the removal of bones from dead bodies.

The recent thefts of human bones are thought to be linked to the production of "kush", a potent drug which mimics the effects of cannabis, a Freetown City Council official responsible for cemeteries told the AFP news agency on condition of anonymity.

The synthetically-made drug is making inroads among the young in the West African nation, although its precise composition is sketchy.

Rumours that it is partly composed of crushed human bones have circulated in local media, but this has yet to be scientifically substantiated.

"The Freetown City Council has noted with disdain the gross violation of the peaceful rest of our departed compatriots by the opening of vaults and... the tampering with the dead by taking away the bones of the dead," it said in a statement on Tuesday.

The council announced, "With immediate effect, access to or through any cemetery must be terminated at 7:00 pm daily; no one is allowed to pass through or conduct any business in any cemetery".

It added that "armed police personnel" would be stationed at the cemeteries to enforce "punitive measures" on those disobeying the order.

It was not immediately clear when the personnel would be deployed or the number of affected cemeteries, a police source said.

The council has urged residents living nearby graveyards to be on high alert and hand over suspects to the police.