The Insurance Association of Jamaica (IAJ) says it is not alarmed by reports that a body was dug up on Saturday as part of an alleged attempted life-insurance scam.

The Manchester police have reported that the body of 70-year-old retiree, Irvin Sinclair was exhumed from a grave in Pratville, south Manchester, to be burnt and passed off as that of a policyholder in order to make an insurance claim.

Yesterday, the executive director of the IAJ, Orville Johnson, told The Gleaner that insurance companies have adequate systems in place to deal with fraud.

He also said life-insurance fraud was not prevalent.

"We don't have any recent record of insurance fraud on the life side," he said, adding that the verification process for life insurance claims was very stringent.

Isolated incident

Assistant Commissioner of Police Denver Frater also said there was no intelligence to suggest that the incident was part of a trend.

But he said people have been using innovative ways to try to defraud insurance companies.

The five men implicated in the weekend desecration remained in police custody up to late last night.

They were to have been questioned yesterday, but the interview did not materialise. The police did not provide a reason for the delay in questioning the men but indicated that it would be undertaken today.

The police said about 3:45 a.m. on Saturday, three vehicles were signalled to stop on the Greenvale road in Mandeville. Two of the cars reportedly sped off, leaving the other vehicle, a white Toyota Corolla.

According to the police during a search of the car, the body of the retiree was found in the trunk.