Researcher is accused of stealing specimens from botanical garden

Nanjing's Sun Yat-Sen Botanical Garden is not a place you would expect to be the scene of theft. But according to a deputy curator of the specimen gallery, a researcher at the garden last week took parts of 12 precious plant specimens.

"He went to study the specimens with two students," the deputy curator, surnamed Xu, said. "However, our workers noticed some misbehavior and stopped them."

The workers talked the researcher into returning three sample bags at the scene, and four other bags later in the day, Xu said, adding that all the specimens in the bags had been damaged.