Treasure boat ransacked by petty thieves

Ship wreck diving requires sophisticated training that often deters ordinary leisure divers. But not a group of Chinese who found antiques in a 17th-century sunken treasure boat.

Police in southwest China's Sichuan Province on Friday reported the arrest of 31 persons in connection with the theft of thousands of relics in a boat that had sunk in the mid-17th century.

The boat belonged to Zhang Xianzhong, a rebel leader whose peasant uprising during the Ming Dynasty resulted in his conquering of swaths of territory in the present day provinces of Hunan, Hubei and Sichuan. In 1644, Zhang proclaimed himself "Empire" of the "Great West." Not long after, he was defeated by government forces and his treasure boat sank to the bottom of the Minjiang River.

In 2005, some 300 years after Zhang's defeat, builders of water supply facilities in Jiangkou town, Meishan city, discovered seven silver ingots in the river bank. After a thorough study of the items, the government declared the area a protected site.

Gu Yongzhong, Meishan vice mayor and police chief, said police were alerted in late 2013 that some of the relics were missing. They received further information in early 2014 that scuba divers had been searching the river bed.

After a year-long investigation, on April 25, 2015, police arrested 31 suspects and confiscated thousands of coins and ingots made of gold and silver, said Liu Lianggui, a police officer who participated in the operations. Also confiscated were wet suits, air tanks, metal detectors, lead weights, and other diving equipment.

According to Liu, the suspects revealed during their interrogations that excited by the original findings, they decided to learn how to dive from books, the Internet, and later diving instructors.

"After they picked up all the easy finds, they hired professionals to make sure nothing valuable was left," Liu said. "They operated like an experienced diving crew."

Police officer Yu Hai said after the relics were salvaged, the thieves sold them on the black market. "Some (of the suspects) bought expensive cars or properties in cities, others deposited millions into their bank savings accounts," Yu added.

Police canvassed ten provinces and busted ten smuggling gangs before recovering all the missing relics, with an estimated value of 300 million yuan (44.78 million U.S. dollars).

"This is the biggest theft case of its kind that the police cracked this year," said Liu Changlin, Meishan deputy police chief. "We have never arrested so many suspects, or recovered so many items of such value."

Heritage protection officials said the recovery of relics from Zhang Xianzhong's treasure boat would help historians understand the rebel movement, social life and economic system in late Ming Dynasty (1368-1644).

In recent years, the preservation of relics has faced myriad challenges, with cases of wanton destruction, fire and theft. According to the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, there were 23 instances of fire, 29 thefts and 89 illegal excavations recorded in 2015. Endi