China News Service, Xingtai, November 24 (Zhang Pengxiang, Zhou Zhaotian) Xindu Branch of the Public Security Bureau of Xingtai City, Hebei Province revealed on the 24th that after eight years of hard work, the police successfully uncovered the much-watched case of the theft of stone carvings on the Great Wall at Maling Guanming. The suspect Zhang Mouwang was arrested.
Crushed stone blocks.
Photo courtesy of Xindu Branch of Xingtai Public Security Bureau
In August 2012, the police from Songjiazhuang Police Station of Xindu Branch of Xingtai City Public Security Bureau discovered some stone fragments in the home of a villager during their work. Due to professional sensitivity, the police immediately questioned the villager and learned that he and three other villagers in the same village He was hired to use oil drills, crowbars and other tools to smash the three Buddha statues on the Malingguan Great Wall site into fragments and move them down the mountain. Later, because they did not receive any wages, they hid the stone fragments at home. Most of the fragments were The employer stole it.
The police also questioned the other three villagers, none of them knew the employer’s name or address, only the last name was Zhang.
The case was deadlocked. In the following eight years, the police inspected the scene at Maling Pass six times, searched for clues, fixed evidence, and invited the cultural relics protection department to appraise the stolen stone carvings. Hebei Museum appraised the Maling Guan Ming Great Wall stone carvings. It is an ancient cultural site of the Ming Dynasty, with significant cultural and historical research value, and a major part of the Ming Great Wall, a provincial second-level cultural relics protection unit.
After eight years of hard work, the police identified the suspect Zhang Mouwang as suspected of committing a major crime.
On November 18, 2020, with the support and help of the Criminal Police Detachment of Xingtai Public Security Bureau, the Songjiazhuang Police Station of Xindu Public Security Bureau and the Criminal Police No. 10 Squadron captured the suspect Zhang Mouwang in a community in Xiangdu District.
The base of the Buddha statue.
Photo courtesy of Xindu Branch of Xingtai Public Security Bureau
After interrogation, the suspect Zhang Mouwang confessed to his crime of stealing the stone carvings of Buddha statues on the Guanming Great Wall in Maling.
Zhang Mouwang was sentenced to 5 years imprisonment by the Xingtai City People’s Court in 2000 for the theft of the White Jade Panlongzhu from Lingxiao Mountain. After serving his sentence in 2005, he had nothing to do. In 2012, he accidentally discovered a Buddha on the Guanming Great Wall in Maling. When he built the stone carvings, he started with the idea of reselling cultural relics. He hired local villagers to smash the stone carvings and transport them down the mountain. After a dispute with the hired worker due to wage issues, the hired worker did not give him the stone fragments, so he stole it from the hired's yard. A large part, and sold the stolen stone fragments to buyers in Ningjin for more than 3,000 yuan.
At present, the suspect Zhang Mouwang has been criminally detained by Xindu Branch of Xingtai Public Security Bureau, and the case is still under investigation.
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