Police found around 20 sets of human remains apparently dug up from graves in a man’s apartment in the central Russian city of Nizhny Novgorod, Russian news agencies reported yesterday.

“It’s known that the suspect is a 45-year-old man who is into local history. Apparently the bodies were dug up from graves at different cemeteries,” a police source told the Interfax news agency. The bodies were “dried up,” Interfax reported.

“During an investigation into grave desecrations, investigators held a male Nizhny Novgorod resident and found more than 20 skeletons he had apparently dug up and brought home,” a law enforcement source told the RIA Novosti news agency.

A spokesman for Nizhny Novgorod’s police said he did not have any information on the case, while a spokeswoman for the city’s investigative committee said she would only be able to comment after Friday’s public holiday.

Patriarch Kirill, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, is set to visit Nizhny Novgorod on Friday.

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