Some of the lamps and brassware that was stolen from the the Vishnu Temple.
Image: Suppled
Brass items, including sacred prayer lamps, stolen from the historic 145-year-old Shree Mariamman Temple Society in Port Shepstone were found in pieces this week.
The temple's chairperson, Dr Mala Appalraju, said the suspects were found in possession of the temple's cut up brassware in the town's CBD on Thursday.
This is the second theft in a month.
Appalraju said the temple was broken into either Sunday night or Monday morning.
"A committee member arrived early on Monday to clean up the Vishnu temple and saw that the burglar guard was cut open and the window was broken. They realised that multiple items were missing. We fixed the window after the police took fingerprints because we were scared they could come in through same entrance again.
"The theft included three brass vases, nine brass water containers, three solid brass lamps, three long brass lamps, and seven brass trays - objects that are valuable and spiritually significant. The temple operates entirely on community sponsorships, so realising we were robbed was sad."
She said the timing of the incident raised suspicions that the perpetrators knew about the temple's recent fundraising efforts.
“We did collections on Sunday. We think the robbers knew this and thought the box with the money was in the temple. When they realised the box was missing, they took other things.”
Following the incident, the temple committee alerted local scrapyards to watch for the missing brass items and report any suspects to the police.
Soon thereafter, Appalraju said they were informed that the suspects were arrested while walking in town with the stolen goods.
"The police told us that by this time, the items had already been cut into pieces. It is sad knowing they did this to the lamps and trays just for some money. The lamp is holy to us and should be respected, but they completely disrespected our culture and religion.”
The incident comes weeks after copper theft at the temple.
Appalraju said the temple was one of the smallest in Port Shepstone and they struggled financially to keep their doors open. She added that these incidents have set them back.
The temple was built by the Illovo Sugar Mill and established for the Indian community in 1880.
Port Shepstone SAPS has not commented at the time of publishing.