Police arrest 175, recover ancient relics worth $82m

Police arrested 175 people suspected of stealing cultural relics from ancient tombs, and 1,168 relics worth more than 500 million yuan ($82 million) have been recovered, the Ministry of Public Security said on Wednesday.

The artifacts are thought to be those excavated illegally from Niuheliang, a Neolithic archaeological site in Chaoyang, a city in the northeastern province of Liaoning.

Among the relics recovered was a coiled jade dragon, one of the earliest-known depictions of the mythological creature, authorities said.