A pair of three-ton centuries-old stone lions were stolen from the village committee of Wanyuan, Sichuan: the suspect was captured and the stone lions were returned to their original places
China News Service, Chengdu, August 28 (Zhang Lang Liu Kun) A reporter learned from the Public Security Bureau of Wanyuan City, Sichuan Province on the 28th that a pair of centuries-old stone lions weighing 3 tons at the gate of the Pingcun Village Committee in Xingxian County of the city had been stolen. Afterwards, through the efforts of the police, the stone lions have been transported back to the village a few days ago and placed at the door of the village committee.
The original appearance of Shishi. Photo courtesy of Wanyuan Public Security
In the early morning of December 28, 2019, a pair of centuries-old stone lions weighing 3 tons disappeared at the gate of Pingcun Village Committee, Xing County, Wanyuan City, Sichuan. On January 2 this year, Wanyuan police classified the case as a criminal case and issued a notice offering a reward for clues to solve the case.
After the stone lion at the entrance of the village office was stolen, only one stone pier remained. Photo courtesy of Wanyuan Public Security
According to Wanyuan City Police, after the incident, the police found at the scene that the monitoring of the village committee was cut off for 3 hours in the early morning, and there were many people's footprints and ruts on the scene. Through multiple monitoring along the road, it was discovered that a red truck might be a "lion truck." The police followed the line and found that the suspect Liu was a cultural relics dealer and arrested him later. Liu Moumou confessed that he rented a truck from Dazhou City and hired more than 10 people to drive hundreds of kilometers to Ping Village, Xing County, Wanyuan. In the early morning, he unplugged the monitoring plug, carried the stone lion onto the truck, and then transported to the city to hide.
The suspect was controlled by the police and identified at the scene. Photo courtesy of Wanyuan Public Security
According to villagers in Ping Village, Xingxian County, the pair of Shishi at the gate of the village committee has guarded the local area for more than 100 years. The village committee’s location used to be the Zhang Family Ancestral Hall. Later, the ancestral hall was changed to a small village.
After the incident, the police rushed to Ping Village, Xing County, to investigate the scene of the crime carefully. According to the police handling the case, two suspicious points were found at the scene: one is that there are many footprints and truck ruts on the scene; the other is that the village committee’s surveillance video stopped work at 0:38 am on the day of the incident due to a “power outage” and resumed at 3:50 am .
The police handling the case visited the surrounding villagers and learned that no cranes, excavators and other construction vehicles entered or left the village during the incident. It was also investigated that there was no power outage in Ping Village, Xingxian County during the time of the incident. The police preliminarily determined that the monitoring power supply was manually unplugged for more than 3 hours during the monitoring shutdown.
Prepare to put the stone lion back in place. Photo courtesy of Wanyuan Public Security
Based on the traces left on the scene, the policeman preliminarily judged that many people were involved in theft of the "lion", and carried the stone lion onto a truck by carrying it on their shoulders.
The police then inspected all the monitoring of roads around Ping Village, Xingxian County, and all police officers from police stations in Hekou, Caoba, Dongcheng, Changba, Luowen, and Batai around the incident were dispatched to launch "big visits" along the road. After consulting nearly a hundred social surveillance probes and hundreds of hours of surveillance video, the policeman who handled the case discovered that a red heavy truck was driving from Shiwo Town to Hekou Town in the early hours of the same day, and finally went missing.
The police of the task force successfully arrested the criminal suspect Liu Moum in a resettlement housing community west of Dazhou City. A stone lion covered by a tarp was found in the open space at the entrance of a construction machinery maintenance plant on Chaoyang West Road, West Wai.
At the same time, the policemen who handled the case were divided into 4 routes and went to Tongchuan District, Kaijiang County, Wanyuan Hekou, Shiwo Town and other places in Dazhou City respectively to arrest the members of this theft gang and wipe out more than 10 gang members.
During the police interrogation, the criminal suspect Liu XX explained the whole process of his "group" entering the village to steal the stone lion. Liu XX has been engaged in the antique business for many years, and often goes to remote villages in Wanyuan to buy "old objects". In 2017, he heard in Hekou Town that there was a pair of old stone lions in Ping Village, Xingxian County. He went to the village to check on the spot. For several years, he has been "concerning" about the pair of stone lions. Not here.
The suspect of "Stealing Lion" has been captured and the case is currently under further investigation. (Finish)