[CPProt.net] China: High-tech crimes threaten cultural relics

[MSN and CPProt list (Ton Cremers)]

High-tech crimes threaten cultural relics

www.chinaview.cn 2005-02-28 09:31:44

    BEIJING, Feb. 28 -- The protection of cultural relics is under severe
threat from increases in illegal excavation, theft and smuggling in recent
years, heritage officials have warned.

    To curb rampant criminal activity, administrative enforcement organs are
being urged to set up stringent safeguards above the county level according
to China's law on the protection of cultural heritage, said Liu Qifu, an
official from State Administration of Cultural Heritage.

    Forty stealing cases, during which 222 cultural relics were stolen from
the country's protected ancient sites and museums, were reported nationwide
last year, an 81.8 per cent increase year-on-year, a report released by
administration last week said.

    Twenty-one, or 52.5 per cent, of these cases involved relics protection
units of different levels, while 11 occurred in museums and eight cases
happened in government offices responsible for relics, it said.

    "The figure does not include the number of crimes where illicit
excavation at ancient tombs occurred," said Shan Jixiang, head of the
administration, at an annual working conference on cultural relics at the
end of last year.

    What is worse, only seven of the stealing cases were uncovered by the
cultural relics protection departments and public security departments last
year, Shan added.

    Driven by huge profits, criminals are active in digging ancient tombs
and cultural heritage sites, stealing and smuggling , experts said.

    At the same time, lots of stone sculptures and relics in temples are
most vulnerable to theft because most of them are widely scattered in fields
and lack enough protective measures.

    Analyzing the crimes, Liu said thieves have mainly focused their "wicked
hands" on the relic items stored in key cultural heritage sites or museums.

    By using high-tech, such as computer and Internet technologies, they
have been involved in crimes such as stealing, illegal transportation,
smuggling and speculative sales of relics in provinces and regions.

    Experts estimate that stolen relics could be smuggled across of the
border within one or two weeks by the suspects; and after that it would be
difficult for the cultural heritage protection departments to trace them.

    For example, the police department in East China's Anhui Province spent
two years to crack a case in late 2004 to arrest 37 suspects who stole and
smuggled 469 cultural relics, including more than 100 State-protected art
treasures.

    A stealing and smuggling network had existed for more than 10 years in
about 10 provinces and regions including Hong Kong and Macao, sources said.
Among the suspects arrested by police were five people from China's Hong
Kong and Macao special administrative regions.

    In China, departments such as the bureaux for protection of cultural
heritage and relics, police, as well the bureaux of industrial and
commercial administration bear the responsibility to crack down on crimes
and infringement cases of stealing and smuggling of cultural relics, said
Liu, the official from State Administration of Cultural Heritage.

    The administration's statistics indicated that 807 law enforcement
organs which include 4,279 personnel have been established by the cultural
heritage departments at the county level around the nation.

    (Source: China Daily)

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