National Police officers in Jerez have recovered 29 valuable religious artefacts which had been stolen from the Iglesia de Santiago.
The police received a phone call alerting them to the presence of some artefacts in a warehouse on the road from El Puerto de Santa Maria and they began an investigation.
The police traced the articles, which had been reported as stolen, to the local diocese. In the meantime, the thieves attempted to rob the church again which led to their detention.
The high altar at the church is undergoing restoration and the artefacts, dating from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, were covered by a tarpaulin. The thieves appear to have been systematically robbing the church while the works were being carried out in the hope that the robberies would go undetected.
The thieves did try to sell several of the artefacts, which were artistically, historically and economically valuable, but without success. They even tried to sell the bronze statues to a junkyard, but again without success. It was then that they decided to store them in the warehouse.
One wonders why the thieves would continue to steal items which they could not sell, even for scrap.