Probe positioning instead of Luoyang shovel, squeeze blasting instead of manual excavation, set up a camera for anti-reconnaissance
Tomb robbers use black technology to combat cultural relic crimes
Our reporters Sun Liangquan, Chen Nuo, Li Wenzhe, Yang Yimiao
"Big shovel and small shovel to lift soil have been eliminated", "pirate excavation adopts more advanced'squeeze blasting method'" "In addition to installing anti-reconnaissance cameras, "open wasteland and plant land" around tombs and plant large crops to hide "...
In novels and film and television dramas, "seeking dragons and tapping caves" is a "gentle" term for the robbery of ancient tombs.
But in real life, this illegal and criminal behavior has caused great harm to cultural relics and historical culture.
Since the launch of the special campaign to combat gangsters and evil, my country has intensified its crackdown on cultural relic crimes and achieved remarkable results.
The crime of robbing ancient tombs in Shanxi and other places has maintained "zero incidents" for the past three years. However, driven by huge profits, criminals still commit crimes in a few areas.
In July 2020, the staff of the Cultural Relics Conservation Management Office of Chaohu City, Anhui Province discovered during inspections that the color of the soil on the west side of the seventh tomb of the local Fangwanggang ancient tomb group was different from the surrounding soil.
They speculated that the tomb might have been robbed.
The reporter recently conducted research in Shanxi, Anhui, Henan, Shaanxi and other places and found that the current criminal methods of cultural relic crimes are more technological, and there is still room for cracking down on crime in some places, especially in the fight against trafficking.
In the "post-anti-crime" stage after the end of the special struggle, it is urgent to use science and technology to suppress cultural relic crimes and continue to repress and crack down.
"Luoyang shovel has been eliminated"
Fangwanggang Ancient Tombs is a provincial key cultural relic protection unit in Anhui Province.
After receiving the call, the local police set up a special task force to investigate.
On-site investigation revealed that the fresh soil of the ancient tomb was covered with some branches. A cave with a diameter of 1 meter and a depth of 10 meters was hidden under the branches. The robbery directly penetrated the tomb, causing irreversible damage to the structure of the tomb and the cultural relics in the tomb. .
Under the digging of the police, a tomb robbery group headed by Wang Moumou, a resident of Chaohu Lake, emerged from the two provinces of Anhui and Jiangxi for a long time.
In August 2020, all six suspects in the case were arrested.
After investigation, in addition to robbing the Wanggang tomb in Chaohu, the group also robbed 8 tombs in Anhui, Jiangxi and other places.
According to Wang Moumou’s confession, they would bring a local "county chronicle" with them when committing the crime. In addition to understanding local customs, they also found some ancient tomb "clues" such as specific location, age, and owner of the tomb before proceeding. Selective "pirate excavation."
The Wuwangdun Tomb, located in Xuwa Village, Sanhe Town, Huainan City, Anhui Province, is the only king-level tomb among the more than 10,000 Chu tombs that have been excavated, and it has not escaped the harassment of the "touching lieutenants".
In detecting the robbing and excavation of the Wuwangdun Tomb, the police detained a large number of professional criminal tools, such as detonators, home-made explosives, elevators, infrared night vision devices, walkie-talkies, and miniature probes.
"Luoyang shovel has been eliminated." Zhang Heting, a policeman from the Second Criminal Police Team of the Chaohu City Public Security Bureau in Anhui Province, who was responsible for investigating the robbery of Wanggang's ancient tombs, told reporters that the tomb gangs are now very professional in tomb detection, and some tomb robbers are still studying feng shui. , Astrology, after finding the approximate position, use the probe to locate.
"A probe with the thickness of a little finger can be connected to a maximum of tens of meters. Basically, three or five probes can be used to determine the position of the coffin."
Zhang Xuehao, head of the Criminal Police Squadron of the Public Security Bureau of Shou County, Huainan City, Anhui Province, and others said that compared to the “blasting + manual excavation” method used in the past, among the cases they have seized, some tomb robbers use the “squeeze blasting and robbery method”. ".
"Pour explosives into the small thumb-thick hole made by the probe. With a muffled sound, it squeezed out a channel about half a meter in diameter."
Relying on the use of new technology and new equipment, a tomb used to take one or two months of work, but now it only takes a few days to complete the pirating operation.
In addition to renewing equipment and stronger technology when committing crimes, the "Squad Lieutenants Touching Gold" also continued to strengthen their anti-investigation awareness and capabilities.
In the "Taosi North Tomb Robbery" sentenced by the Linfen Intermediate People's Court in Shanxi Province in 2019, Zhang Moujian's tomb-robber gang not only arranged guards at intersections and hidden small houses to guard the cemetery every time they robbed them. The security guards are on guard.
The police told reporters that after the tomb robbers "stepped on", they did not "start" immediately. They often need several days to carry out concealed operations.
After the "stepping" is over, they will set up a hidden camera nearby to conduct counter-reconnaissance.
After the safety is determined, the work will be "started".
According to the police, some large-scale tombs cannot be completed in a short time. In order to avoid the attack, some gangs even use various excuses to build some relatively secret high-walled courtyards next to the large tombs, and even build fake tombs, and then from the inside. Find the right place to dig a hole to secretly enter the ancient tomb.
There are even gangs planting trees or tall crops around the mausoleum in the name of reclaiming wasteland and planting trees and planting trees, and only start committing crimes when these plants are enough to cover people's actions.
From 2012 to 2014, Wei Yonggang's tomb-robber gang rented houses and opened restaurants near cultural protection units in Pucheng, Qishan, and Dai County, Shanxi.
Taking this as a cover, dig holes in the store to rob the South Pagoda of Pucheng County, the Taiping Temple Pagoda in Qishan County, and the Underground Palace of Ashoka Pagoda in Dai County.
"Touching the Golden School Lieutenant" to commit crimes thousands of miles
The chain of cultural relic crime is divided into three links: "theft, trafficking, and possession".
The reporter's investigation found that a chain of underground cultural relics crimes involving capital contribution, detection, stealing, transportation, reselling, and smuggling has been formed.
From March 2018 to January 2020, Blongji Eastern Han Dynasty Tombs, Panjiazhuang Han Dynasty Ancient City Sites, Shuangdunzi Han Dynasty Ancient Temple Sites, Wangganzi Han Great Wall Sites and other ancient tombs in Guazhou County, Jiuquan City, Gansu Province Ancient cultural sites were successively destructively excavated by tomb robbers.
After solving the case, the police discovered that it was a tomb-robber gang from Guilin, Guangxi, who had sneaked into the territory of Gansu not far away. After successful the theft, they sneaked back to Guilin.
In the case of the tomb of Xuewei No. 1 in Qinghai, known as the "nine-story demon building," some of the tomb-robbers who committed the crime were "invited to participate" tomb-robbers from other provinces.
The investigation found that the identities of the funders of the tomb robbery were complicated, including sauna operators, construction foremen and even car transporters. In the case of the robbery of Fangwanggang tombs, the funders were local retired public officials.
As long as they provide funds, they can convene "professionals" across the country to purchase "grave robbery services."
In the sales link, there are many roles such as local cultural relic dealers, the "head" who monopolizes the sales of fine cultural relics, and the "horse" who collects fine goods for the owners of overseas antique shops.
After the pirate gang excavated the cultural relics, the stolen cultural relics quickly flowed into the "black market", circulated disorderly in the hands of cultural relic dealers and buyers, and even flowed abroad or into the hands of "collectors".
Since 2017, the Ministry of Public Security and the State Administration of Cultural Heritage have deployed special operations against cultural relics crimes for three consecutive years.
According to data released by the Ministry of Public Security not long ago, in 2020, public security organs across the country have destroyed more than 150 cultural relic criminal gangs, arrested more than 1,500 criminal suspects, and recovered more than 14,000 cultural relics.
Among them, Shanxi police recovered the most.
In fact, just taking bronze wares as examples, Henan, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Hubei, Gansu, etc. are all origins.
Most of the bronzes unearthed from the late Shang period are fine works.
Etiquette was emphasized during this period, especially for funerals. The cast bronzes were made of many materials, good shapes, and thick.
Before 2018, Shanxi Province, which is rich in cultural relics on the ground, also suffered from tomb robbery.
Since the launch of the special campaign to combat gangsters and evil, Shanxi has made combating cultural relics crime an important aspect. The once rampant crime of robbing ancient tombs has maintained "zero incidents" since May 2018.
"Tomb robbers all over the country now walk around Shanxi because Shanxi beat them hard," said the person in charge of the Linfen Center of the Shanxi Provincial Public Security Department to combat cultural relics crimes.
At a recent press conference, Yang Tongshun, deputy director of the Shanxi Provincial Public Security Department, said: "Since 2018, Shanxi has uncovered 1,559 criminal cases of cultural relics, arrested 2,414 suspects, and recovered more than 50,000 cultural relics. The number of cultural relics recovered. , The number of transferred cultural relics ranks first in the country."
Shaanxi, which is also a major cultural relic province, has carried out the "Eagle" series of special operations against cultural relics crimes for 9 consecutive years, cracking down on more than 3,000 criminal suspects and recovering more than 20,000 pieces of various cultural relics.
Respondents generally said that the lack of efforts to crack down on the sales link has led to the problem of "cutting leek" in the fight against cultural relics crime.
In the chain of cultural relics pirates, the "frontline" pirates have the heaviest penalties, but they have made the least profits. The cultural relics sales link is extremely profitable, and the price is almost doubled for every sale.
Stimulated by strong demand, the "workers" who dig in the front line are like leeks, and a new crop will emerge after cutting a crop.
However, dealers and collectors of cultural relics are often hard to be hit.
During the interview, interviewees said that in addition to disorderly circulation, most of the traffickers have one-line contacts. Many tomb robbers don't even know what they dug up, let alone to whom and where.
This restricts the police in the recovery of cultural relics and the entire chain of strikes.
Among the more than 2,400 "cultural relics criminals" arrested by the Shanxi police, about a quarter of them were involved in the trafficking chain. Basically, these people have not been attacked.
"Some have been caught, but most of them are difficult to sentence due to legal and evidence issues." The police said.
Expansion of the “DNA library” of cultural relics as soon as possible
Another major risk of cultural relics crimes worthy of vigilance is that cultural relics legal persons violate the law. This is a cultural relics crime committed by agencies, organizations, enterprises, and institutions.
In September 2019, as a supporting project to promote the integrated development of cultural and tourism and create a 5A scenic spot in Nanyang City, Henan Province, the construction project of Wollonggang Cultural Park in Nanyang City appeared during the progress due to barbaric construction, which caused serious safety of cultural relics in Nanyang Han Painting Museum. The issue of threats has aroused strong public opinion.
On the evening of August 26, the 400-meter wall of the Nanyang Han Painting Gallery of the National First-Class Museum was demolished by the Wuhouci Cultural Park Construction Headquarters in Wolong District, Nanyang City. Some cultural relics were exposed to the wild.
In the case that the two parties have reached an agreement and have not yet effectively implemented it, the construction unit continued brutal construction, and the monitoring equipment and cables in the museum were damaged, causing new safety hazards.
This incident was quickly dealt with under the intervention of public opinion.
Legal persons have strong economic strength and organizational strength. Once a cultural relic crime is committed, its destructive capacity far exceeds that of natural persons, which is extremely harmful.
Relevant personnel of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage stated that the security situation of cultural relics has been severe for some time.
The illegal cases of legal persons of cultural relics have been repeatedly banned, the theft and excavation of cultural relics are rampant, and the hidden dangers of cultural relics fire safety have become the three main risks that affect the safety of cultural relics. Among them, the violation of the law is the primary risk.
Legal persons violated the law in 76% of the cultural relics violation cases handled by the inspectors of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage.
In the survey, there were also grass-roots police officers who reported that the number of cultural relic crimes once showed an upward trend after the maximum penalty for cultural relic crimes was abolished in 2011.
Interviewees said that to protect the precious heritage left by ancestors and effectively curb illegal crimes on cultural relics, it is necessary to establish a nationally integrated coordination mechanism, especially in the "post-anti-crime" phase to continue to maintain a high-pressure situation.
The "National Cultural Relics Crime Information Center" and "China Stolen (Lost) Cultural Relics Information Publishing Platform" commissioned by the State Administration of Cultural Heritage and the Ministry of Public Security to build the Shaanxi Provincial Public Security Department have recorded more than 10,000 pieces of information involved in the case and thousands of persons involved; Thousands of stolen (lost) cultural relics information in 28 provinces.
The grassroots suggested that the scope and role of this "DNA library" of cultural relics should be expanded as soon as possible, and the electronic identities of all important cultural relics should be collected. A game of chess across the country can provide technical support for cutting off the logistics of stolen cultural relics and recovering lost cultural relics overseas.
"For the registration of our cultural relics, even if we are living in overseas markets, we know that there is evidence to prove that the things belong to us." The relevant person in charge of the Shanxi Provincial Public Security Department said.
Some interviewed experts and police believe that, in the crackdown and trial, the criminal acts of robbery of ancient tombs and burials occurred in the "National Security Zone" and the "non-protection zone" in accordance with the current law. "The theory" means that tomb robbing can be cracked down and the sentence should be more than 10 years. When the tomb robbing occurs in a non-cultural relics protection area, the "consequence theory" is used, that is, as long as there is no excavation during the large-scale digging, or the police cannot find Things do not constitute a crime.
At present, the attack and trial loopholes of "one shovel in the national security zone for ten years, and the non-protected zone should be released" also need to be studied and changed. The consequences of sabotage are to be sentenced, that is, no matter where the dig is made, as long as the digging is for the purpose of profit, the sentence should be sentenced, and the sentence is heavy for digging important tombs.