Multiple Sunken Treasure Thefts Solved

By Zheng Ming

Zhangpu County, located on the southeast coast of Fujian Province, has a long history and rich cultural heritage. With a total sea area of 3,560 square kilometers,a coastline 167 kilometers long,nine large bays, 18 seaports with connections to Hong Kong and Macao, and 101 islands; Zhangpu truly can be called an ocean county.

Since ancient times, the development of Zhangpu has been closely related to the ocean. As early as the Song and Yuan dynasties, sea routes starting from Fujian were extended in all directions to the wider world and were important channels for foreign trade in ancient China. As an important stop along the "Maritime Silk Road", Zhangpu witnessed bustling trade at its ports and busy sea lanes off its coast.Sailing through the Zhangpu waters, many ancient merchant ships full of Chinese porcelain and silk products traveled to Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and beyond.

In those times, because of unpredictable weather, sea conditions, coral reefs, and even faulty ships, many ancient merchant vessels met an unfortunate end on the waters around Zhangpu and sunk to the seabed. There, these ships became sunken treasure, and also cultural heritage hidden underwater.These shipwrecks are precious cultural relics left by our ancestors during their life and work activities, with invaluable economic and historical significance. However, these sunken treasures and underwater cultural relics are also coveted by criminals.

On the night of November 23, 2020, at around 1 a.m.,most residents in Liuao Town in Zhangpu County had gone to bed, and the area was still and quiet but for the occasional bark of a dog. In the night, police from a special task force of the Fujian Public Security Bureau arrested six suspects who had been staying in the Huadu Hotel in town. Later, investigators found two boxes full of cultural relics in the suspects' vehicle,together with diving suits and other special equipment.

The arrest was made as part of an operation called the Zhangzhou "11.23" Investigation, a case related to a series of salvages and thefts of cultural relics from ancient shipwrecks.The Fujian Public Security Bureau was committed to solving this case, and its progress was supervised by the Ministry of Public Security. With the development of the investigation and the identification of suspects, different agencies from the Fujian Public Security Bureau made arrests the same day:A total of 19 suspects were apprehended and 846 pieces of porcelain recovered. Based on the evaluation and assessment of the Department for the Protection of Cultural Relics, all of the 846 pieces were determined to be cultural relics fired in the Longquan kilns during the Yuan dynasty. Among them, 76 pieces are determined to be Third Class Relics or above.

According to Lu Lianse, a police officer from the Criminal Investigation Division of the Zhangpu County Public Security Bureau, these organized criminal groups were normally formed by a combination of business investors and experienced divers, and were engaged in the salvage and theft of cultural relics from ancient shipwrecks. These criminals made an agreement among themselves on the proportion of their investment contributions and the distribution of the profits after the sale of stolen items. They conducted several salvage operations in Zhangpu waters and managed to obtain many cultural relics illegally. They later resold them to buyers in Jiangxi Province and other parts of China. In fact, the Criminal Investigation Division of the Fujian Provincial Public Security Department had obtained important information about this case as early as September 2020. They learned that there were some porcelain bowls on the market which appeared to have been salvaged from shipwrecks. Pictures of the bowls were assessed by officials from the cultural relics administrative agencies, and the preliminary judgment was that they were in sound condition, originally from the Song and Yuan dynasties, and bore a strong resemblance to those previously salvaged from ancient shipwrecks.

This discovery attracted the close attention of the public security agencies in Fujian Province, Zhangzhou City, and the local Zhangpu County respectively. On October 10,2020, the public security agencies in Zhangzhou City and Zhangpu County immediately set up a special task force,joined by officers from multiple police departments, to carry out the investigation. After the forensic research and suspect identification process, investigators determined that Wei xx Chao, Wu xx Hua, and a suspect surnamed Luo xx from Guangxi Province; and Li xx Xing, Li xx Ming and Li xx Chun from Pingtan County of Fujian Province were suspects.They also suspected Zheng xx Cheng, a native of Liu'ao Town in Hangpu County, of having participated in the crimes.

The task force followed these leads and learned that some time earlier Wei xx Chao had contacted a man with a Hunan accent on November 17, 2020. Wei told the man that he would go to Zhangpu County to do some salvage work for some ancient Chinese porcelain articles there. The next day,Wei and two unidentified men checked into the Huadu Hotel in Liu'ao Town of Zhangpu County. After carefully analyzing the situation, the police task force was certain that these criminal suspects were preparing for the theft of submerged cultural relics. After three days and three nights of intense and uninterrupted surveillance, the task force made the initial judgement that the seven main criminal suspects were to steal the cultural relics in the near future.

At about 6 p.m. on November 22, 2020, the six suspects,Wei xx Chao, Luo xx Rong, Li xx Yuan, Huang xx Hang, Wei xx Min, and Ou xx Ju, drove to Hutoushan Wharf in Liu'ao Town in two cars. They moved diving equipment and other items that they had prepared in advance to a rented boat. After that, Ou drove back to the Huadu Hotel where they were staying, while the other five drove the boat to the Gulei Sea of Zhangpu County, where the ancient shipwreck was located.Later, Wei and Luo jumped into the water in their diving suits to do the salvage work. The other three suspects stayed on board, taking care of the diving breathing apparatus and collecting the porcelain pieces Wei and Luo handed them from the water.

That night, Wei worked with his group for more than five hours and stole enough porcelain relics to fill two large boxes.They did not return to the Hutoushan Wharf in Liu'ao Town until 1 a.m. the next day. Later, all the participants returned to the Huadu Hotel.

To their surprise, the task force covertly spread out in all directions and kept a close watch on the situation. At about 1 a.m. on November 23, 2021, the task force arrested six suspects, including Wei, Li , and Ou in the Huadu Hotel. They also apprehended Zheng at his home in Liu'ao Town.

Under interrogation, Wei and others confessed to the crime of stealing cultural relics from ancient shipwrecks. A careful analysis of the specific numbers of the group, the accurate job assignments of each individual, and the tools these criminals used reveals that this undoubtedly was an experienced and professional criminal group. After further interrogation, Wei confessed to a new crime: By the end of September 2020, he had stolen, along with Li xx Ming, Li xx Chun, Li xx Xing, and others from Pingtan County, Fujian Province, more than 300 cultural relic pieces,including porcelain bowls, in the same waters.

In order to have all the remaining suspects arrested and recover the stolen cultural relics without delay, on November 26, 2020, under the direction of the Criminal Investigation Division of the Fujian Provincial Public Security Department,the task force quickly rushed to Fuqing City and Pingtan County. With the support of local public security agencies, they successfully captured the suspects Li xx Xing and Li xx Yun.Based upon the information they obtained, the task force worked tirelessly and moved back and forth between Zhangpu County and other locations such as Pingtan County, Fuqing City, and Changle City. In the end, 169 pieces of porcelain were recovered in connection with the case.

During the investigation, the police also found that there was another group committing the same crime of stealing cultural relics from shipwrecks in the Gulei Sea of Zhangpu County. The Zhangzhou City Public Security Bureau decided to combine these two cases into one and carry out the investigation under one commander. They soon arrested eight additional suspects involved in this case. Through additional interrogations with these suspects, the task force learned that this criminal group had already resold some of the cultural relics to buyers in Jiangxi Province. They immediately set up an arrest team and hurried to Fuzhou City of Jiangxi Province where they arrested two more suspects, including Chen Bin. Consequently, police recovered a total of 476 pieces of porcelain cultural relics .

After more than 50 days of hard work and meticulous investigation, the public security agencies from both Zhangzhou City and Zhangpu County successfully cracked the "11.23" case, uncovering the theft and salvage of cultural relics from ancient shipwrecks. They arrested 19 suspects,receovered 846 pieces of porcelain cultural relics, and seized vast amounts of criminal tools, including speedboats and diving suits.

This is one of the major thefts of cultural relics in Fujian Province in recent years. The police delivered a heavy blow to organized crime with the arrest of the criminals and the cracking of the case. The greedy fervor of stealing from ancient shipwrecks was substantially thwarted. Through their efforts, the police made a positive contribution to the protection of cultural relics along the "Maritime Silk Road".Their work helped deter further potential criminal activities,and protect local residents. Moreover, they raised public awareness to the need to protect cultural relics, especially underwater relics in Fujian Province. At the same time, the large quantity of salvaged porcelain that was recovered is not only important historical evidence of Fujian Province's once prosperous maritime trade business, but can also now become vital and vivid study materials for historians of the "Maritime Silk Road."

In an interview, Guo Zhiliang, deputy chief of the Criminal Investigation Division of the Fujian Provincial Public Security Department, said that the Fujian public security agencies were committed to fulfilling their duties to history, to the nation, and to the people. And they were determined to take the fight to criminals engaged in cultural relic theft by establishing a multilevel response mechanism in various places around the province, and improving responsibility systems. Also, they would strengthen efforts to safeguard museums and heritage sites, as well as the safety of their surrounding areas, set up a tight-knit monitoring network for the safety of cultural relics, and continue to make greater efforts to combat crimes of cultural relic theft. Furthermore,they would also maintain an aggressive attitude toward theft,robbery, reselling, and smuggling of cultural relics; they would constantly boost the long-term mechanism of crime prevention and crackdown with strict control and effective management methods. In order to achieve all this, they would take a more offensive approach in the future to combat the crimes of cultural relic theft by taking multiple active measures and working cooperatively under a unified command.

According to the court report, the decision at first instance on this case was made by Zhangpu County People's Court on May 6, 2021. Five suspects were sentenced to fixedterm imprisonment ranging from 1 year and 6 months to 2 years and 10 months respectively. The cases involving all the other 14 suspects have been transferred to the Zhangpu County Prosecutor’s Office for further legal review and prosecution.