Around 10 ancient graves on the Raja Ampat islands, in Indonesia's West Papua, have been looted. Items that were stolen included hundreds of skeletons, grave ornaments such as plates and native Raja Ampat wooden statues.The perpetrators are still unknown.
The ancient graves are situated in cave recesses in the Karst Hills in Raja Ampat Sea, located at Misole, Maya Libit Bay, and Kabui Bay.
“Locals generally blame tourists because the lootings started after Raja Ampat was opened up as a tourist destination in 2008,” said Raja Ampat community youth leader Abraham Goran Gaman as reported by kompas.com.
According to Abraham, it is hard to monitor these ancient graves from looting because they are located on islands far from local populations. Locals are even too afraid to come near them because they are considered sacred.
Local Wawiyai village chief Gerson Mangindal has reported these incidents to the local tourism agency.