Relics-related crime used to mainly focus on theft, the speculative buying and selling of relics and the pilfering of ancient tombs. But such forms of relics crime have been on the decrease in the past few years, said the bureau sources.

Since 2000, the bureau has uncovered 39 relics-related cases, including 16 cases where tombs and historical ruins had been robbed and another three cases of the theft of state-level relics.

Meanwhile, Beijing customs authority has also achieved good results in cracking down on relics smuggling by introducing closed-circuit television to examine passengers and freight.

People attempting to smuggle relics most commonly carry the goods personally or put them in unaccompanied luggage. However, tightened examinations and management by customs have increased the risks of these methods, said Li Zhong, a senior official with the anti-smuggling office under Beijing customs.

In 1996 alone, more than 2,200 smuggled relics were captured through on-the-spot examinations of passengers. The figure dropped to 1,700 for 1998 and 1999 combined.

However, during the same period, the number of cases of relics being smuggled through cargo, express mail and other postal transportation soared, Li revealed.

In 2000, Beijing customs uncovered four cases of smuggling through express mail services, which accounted for 5 percent of all relics-related cases that year. But, in 2001, there were 30 such cases, which made up 35 percent of all relics-related cases.

Moreover, although the number of cases related to the smuggling of state-level relics has declined, the number of fossils-smuggling cases has increased rapidly in recent years, said Li.

Since 1998, Beijing customs has not detected any case involving state-protected treasures or those on the list of items not to be taken out of the country. But customs last year uncovered more than 30 cases of fossils being smuggled, 4.4 times the figure for 2001.

Li said the current law on relics protection and the relevant local regulations failed to clearly stipulate which kind of fossils are protected and are banned from being taken out of the country. This made it very difficult for Beijing customs to identify such cases, he said.

Moreover, due to lax management in the relics auction market and the antique market, many items bought on these markets lack legal certificates, which has resulted in chaos in the relics trade, said Li.

He appealed for the city to intensify efforts in the regulation of the auction and antique markets and draw up a specific decree in accordance with the newly revised law on relics protection that came into effect in October last year.

(China Daily March 3, 2003)