Graves have been robbed of their valuables for centuries. The practice of burying valuables with the deceased has encouraged this practice. In some cases graves are robbed for the skeletons for use in religious rites or to sell for medical purposes. Some satanic cults will buy human skulls for $400.00.
In the 1990s Panama reported and increase in theft from cemeteries: drug addicts were stealing from the dead in order to finance their habit.