A Chinese man has been sentenced to a year in prison for blackmailing a cemetery manager and stealing a casket.
The man stole the cinerary casket from the cemetery in Changping district, Beijing in December, 2015, the Changping district people's court of Beijing said in its verdict.
He phoned the cemetery manager and asked for 300,000 yuan (USD 47,000) to return the casket, and later lowered the ransom to 45,000 yuan. He was eventually nabbed by the police.
The court found him guilty of blackmail and extortion. He was sentenced to one year in prison and fined 2,000 yuan, state-run Xinhua news agency said.
Yesterday was the Qingming Festival, or 'tomb-sweeping day' in China during which Chinese visit the tombs of ancestors and offer prayers.
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