Organized gang of tomb raiders exposes loopholes in protection

A GANG OF grave robbers were recently convicted at Chaoyang Intermediate People's Court in Northeast China's Liaoning province. Five members of the gang got life imprisonment while another 25 received prison sentences ranging from three to 15 years. The nation has a relics protection law, but local governments seldom take effective action to protect ancient tombs and their relics, says Beijing News:

The case is the biggest of its kind since the founding of the People's Republic in 1949, not only because of the gang's efficiency in robbing 17 tombs within 16 months, but also because of its professionalism and the way its members carefully divided all the tasks among them.

Reports show that they were better equipped than most research teams of cultural relics protection departments and they stole 1,168 ancient relics, of which 125 pieces are first-class relics according to the national standards.