10 fugitives involved in major cultural relics crimes arrested

BEIJING -- China's police have netted 10 fugitives who were put on a most-wanted list earlier this month for suspected involvement in major crimes related to cultural relics, authorities said on Wednesday.

A large number of stolen cultural artefacts have been retrieved in the process, including antiquities dating back to the Zhou Dynasty (1046-256 BC) and the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476 BC), the Ministry of Public Security said at a press conference.

This came as part of a yearlong operation against such crimes launched by the ministry on Aug 31, according to the ministry.

In 2017, the ministry teamed up with the National Cultural Heritage Administration for a three-year crackdown on the crimes, which led to 5,867 arrests and the recovery of more than 40,000 stolen artefacts.

Authorities across the country have been asked to deploy new technologies, such as big data and artificial intelligence, to step up the crackdown on theft, illicit trade and smuggling of cultural relics.