Thieves used power tools to cut through an altar at a Brooklyn church and steal a $2 million, jewel-encrusted relic – while also decapitating statues of angels, cops and church officials said Sunday.
The crooks entered St. Augustine’s Roman Catholic Church at 116 Sixth Avenue and used the tools to cut open an altar sometime between Thursday and Saturday, cops said.
Once inside, they took “a pure 18-karat gold tabernacle with jewels” that is believed to be from 1888 and worth about $2 million, cops said. The item was used to conduct the rites of sacrament of communion.
The statues of angels that flanked the relic were also decapitated, church officials said.
“This is devastating, as the Tabernacle is the central focus of our church outside of worship, holding the Body of Christ, the Eucharist, which is delivered to the sick and homebound,” said Father Frank Tumino, pastor of St. Augustine.
“To know that a burglar entered the most sacred space of our beautiful Church and took great pains to cut into a security system is a heinous act of disrespect,” Tumino said.
A safe was also cut open, but nothing was inside, church officials said.
Anyone with information in regard to this incident is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the CrimeStoppers website at https://crimestoppers.nypdonline.org/ or on Twitter @NYPDTips.
https://nypost.com/2022/05/29/thieves-rob-nyc-church-of-2m-relic-decapitate-statue-cops/
2022-05-29 12:01:00Z
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