[CPProt.net] China: Statue thieves finally sentenced

[MSN and CPProt list (Ton Cremers)]

Statue thieves finally sentenced 
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----
1/3/2005 7:25 


Shanghai Daily News 

More than five years after a famous statue was stolen from one of the
busiest intersections in the city, two of the three men who stole the figure
were finally sentenced to jail for their crime yesterday. 

The Luwan District People's Court yesterday sentenced Zhao Xiejun to 12
years in prison and Xu Guoxing to 10 years for stealing the 103,600 yuan
(US$12,482) sculpture just outside a Metro station exit at the intersection
of Huaihai Road and Maoming Road. 

The sculpture of a young woman talking on a public phone first appeared on
the street on May 18, 1999. It was 1.7 meters tall and weighed 350
kilograms. 

The duo and their accomplice, Hu Zhenglong, who had already been sentenced
to eight years in prison in 2002 for another theft, made their living by
collecting garbage in the city. 

At the end of January 2000, the trio saw the sculpture while collecting
garbage around it. 

They stole it several days later after making sure it was made of real
bronze. 

Prosecutors told the court the trio pulled the sculpture down with a rope,
carried it to a recycling station and sold it to Zhang Chaoming, who grew up
in the same town in Jiangsu Province they did, at about 4am when there were
few people on the street. 

Zhang has already been sentenced to 18 months behind bars for accepting and
selling stolen goods. 

Zhang agreed to pay six yuan per kilogram for the statue, although he knew
it was stolen. 

The statue was cut into pieces and Zhang sold it to a metal trade market in
Wujiang, Jiangsu Province. 

http://english.eastday.com/