Coffin Sales and Murders

This rather surprises me. In fact, it really rather astonishes me. Wouldn't police routinely monitor such things? Wouldn't funeral directors regularly call the police when something odd like this happens?

Colombian police were tipped off Monday to the early morning murders of eight cocaine laboratory workers when relatives of the victims showed up at an undertaker in a southern town asking for coffins.

"We did not find out about this until they came to a funeral home and asked for eight caskets. That drew our attention," Putumayo province police commander Harold Lara told Reuters.

Seriously, it boggles the mind a bit to find out that this is not done routinely. Can you just pitch up and buy 8 coffins without that phone call to the police?