Thai funeral worker melts gold teeth from cremated corpses into $1,800 gold bar | World News

A long-serving funeral worker in Thailand’s Saraburi province has revealed that he has been collecting gold teeth from cremated human remains for years, as reported South China Morning Post (SCMP). He recently had them melted into a single 21.13-gram gold bar, valued at over 59,000 baht (US$1,800).
The worker, who has been employed at a cemetery commonly used Thai-Chinese families, insed that he “collected the gold with full knowledge and permission from the families,” adding that he planned to use part of the gold’s value for merit-making on behalf of the deceased—a Buddh practice believed to bring spiritual benefit to the dead.
The worker claimed that after cremation, remains often include ashes, bone fragments, and occasionally gold teeth.
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Verification at local gold shop
The incident came to light on April 25 when a video posted a Saraburi gold shop owner went viral. The video shows the owner using an X-ray scanner to test each piece of metal the worker brought in.
“This is mostly from teeth. This is from the teeth of a corpse. Look, this is from the teeth of a corpse,” the gold shop owner is seen saying on camera while examining a dental piece.

The test confirmed that the items were all genuine gold, before being melted into a small gold bar.
One social media user commented, “Gold is expensive now, so you can get a lot. Congratulations, uncle.” Another wrote, “Uncle must have done good deeds his whole life. It is a job many people would not dare to do. I believe the deceased and their families would be happy to let him have it.”Story continues below this ad
Despite the unpleasant nature of the practice, the funeral worker maintains that it was done ethically and legally.
(With inputs from South China Morning Post)
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