A pair of migrants were arrested this week after allegedly breaking into a Christian chapel on the Greek island of Chios and looting it for money and sacred objects.
The two migrants, a 27-year-old and a 30-year-old, are said to have broken into the chapel using some sort of sharp object and then looted it, stealing various liturgical items such as oil and holy water and even plastic chairs they found inside.
According to a report from Greek newspaper Proto Thema, the alleged thieves also broke into a car next to the chapel and stole more items from it, including a small amount of cash. They then tried to break into another nearby vehicle but were unsuccessful.
Local police have launched an investigation into the thefts and found some of the stolen items, along with the tools used to break into the chapel.
The case comes just under a month after a 36-year-old migrant was arrested in the Thessaloniki region for stealing around €50,000 (£46,000/$56,000) worth of goods from several churches over the period of a month.
The man was caught in the act of stealing from a church in the town of Lagadas and later linked to earlier thefts by Greek police.
Chios is not the only Aegean island to have seen Christian buildings vandalised by migrants. On Lesbos, home to the notorious Moria migrant camp, Muslim migrants, mainly from Syria, have attacked and vandalised several churches and other Christian sites.
Lesbos locals claimed that the churches were vandalised after migrants were prevented from being transferred to Athens and that the migrants took revenge by destroying a church in Moria.
In May, the Viktor Orbán’s government donated $30,000 as part of the “Hungary Helps” aid programme to help restore the damaged churches.
Follow Chris Tomlinson on Twitter at @TomlinsonCJ or email at ctomlinson(at)breitbart.com
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