Society

Rewards offered for Palace Museum stolen relics

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2011-05-17 22:26

BEIJING - Rewards are being offered for anyone who returns missing relics stolen from the Palace Museum on May 8 or provides tips on their whereabouts, Beijing Police announced at a press conference Tuesday afternoon.

Police have recovered six stolen relics and returned them to the museum, but three pieces remain missing, according to the spokesman for the Beijing municipal police.

The amount of reward has yet to be decided as authorities have yet to pinpoint the value of the missing pieces, the spokesman said.

Shi Baikui, a 28-year-old man from East China's Shandong province, was apprehended by police on May 11 at an Internet cafe in Beijing's Fengtai District, 58 hours after the relics were stolen.

Police say he has confessed to the theft.

Shi entered the museum as a visitor on May 8 and then hid himself inside and waited until closing time, according to police. He then broke a window on the northern side of the exhibition hall to gain entry and proceeded to steal relics.

Police say Shi said he wanted to sell the relics to a store in Beijing but was turned away because the store owner said the pieces were fake. He then ditched the relics.

Police found five of the pieces in the woods in Haidian district.Another piece was returned by a man surnamed Yang.

The pieces were on loan from Hong Kong-based Liang Yi Museum and being exhibited in the Chengsu Hall of the Palace Museum. A spokesman with the Palace Museum offered an apology to Liang Yi Museum on Wednesday.