A thrilling case has revealed a group of thieves stealing a dead woman's body for posthumous marriage in Shandong, iQilu.com reported.

Rural superstitions in some parts of China believe that a lone tomb in family tombs will cast a bad influence on the next generations. If one dies without a surviving spouse, then the family should find one for him/her.

Police from Juye County, Heze City, Shandong Province cracked down on an electric bicycle stealing case in June, but the confession from the suspect, surnamed Wang, led to another even more thrilling case that he and fellow thieves stole a dead body.

Zhang Linhai, a local police officer, said police got reports from sources that a villager hid many bicycles at home. They arrested the man but after questioning him, the man said he dug a tomb and stole a woman's dead body in March at Tianqiao Town.

The police soon formed a special squad to investigate further. The man said that eight thieves, dug out a relatively fresh dead body of a person who died three months ago, and sold it for 18,000 yuan. According to him, this kind of body would sell between 16,000 and 20,000 yuan for posthumous marriage, but if it turned already a skeleton then it would be worth nothing.

Policemen then detained other suspects and found the buyer, surnamed Liu, who first stored the dead body in a hospital mortuary and then sold it to a dead man's family in Hebei Province for 38,000 yuan.

The case is still under investigation and 11 suspects have been detained.

This is not the only case for corpse business this year. In June, a villager from Shizai Village in Guangxi's Beiliu City reported to the local police department that his grandfather's dead body had been stolen. The police solved the case by detaining three suspects from Guangdong who later confessed they stole bodies to "complete a local government monthly cremation assignment."

China's criminal law states that those who are caught stealing and insulting corpses can be given a prison or detention sentence of up to three years.

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