Going underground

Archaeologists scrutinize the carvings.

Police in Xi'an began their investigation into the theft in January 2006 after receiving an anonymous tip-off.

From the information given, detectives learned Yang had invaded Jingling Mausoleum (which archaeologists had yet to excavate) in the city's southern suburbs, stolen a sarcophagus and sold it overseas for US$1 million.

What they did not know at the time was whose remains were in the sarcophagus.

Tombs belonging to Tang Dynasty emperors and their family members, as well as high-ranking officials, are scattered across Xi'an, which used to be called Chang'an and was the capital city.

"We launched a large-scale investigation and interviewed villagers living around the ancient tombs in Chang'an district (to get more details)," recalled Cao Nanhua, deputy director of Xi'an public security bureau's criminal investigation office. "We also had people watching the tombs around the clock."

The surveillance paid off and in February 2006, six people were arrested digging in one of the tombs.

"We checked the home of one of the suspected -- Shi Yong'an -- and found more than 100 cultural relics, as well as a gun and some 200 detonators," said Cao.

Officers also seized a computer containing a number of photos of the sarcophagus that Shi Yong'an insisted belonged to gang boss Yang, a struggling photographer. Police say Yang quit his job with the state-owned Xi'an Film Studio for tomb raiding in the early 1990s after an accidental meeting with traffickers.

"We tracked down an illegal repair shop run by Yang, where he worked on the stolen relics," said Han, who runs the heritage investigation team at Xi'an public security bureau.

Yang was eventually caught about 1,800 kilometers away on July 14 in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province. He had been planning to escape to Hong Kong but ran out of money.

Under interrogation, Yang admitted breaking into Jingling Mausoleum in March 2004 and taking pictures of the sarcophagus to show antique dealers. His gang then raided the tomb six times between June 2004 and May 2005, plundering most of the relics inside.

"The gang broke the sarcophagus into pieces and packed it in several boxes before sending it to Guangzhou (capital of Guangdong) and selling it overseas," said Han.