Church raiding

Church raiding or temple raiding is a form of theft, usually involving breaking into a church or other place of worship overnight and stealing items from it.

Examples

• Organized criminals such as the Mafia, the Russian Mafia, the Triad, the Yakuza, and the North Korean Mob sometimes raid churches in order to steal gold, money from donation boxes, or even Bibles in order to make illegal copies off of them for money.
• During WWII, Nazis stole from Catholic and Orthodox churches as well as Jewish synagogues in Eastern Europe.
• Attila the Hun and other related people would “take the spoils” from churches.