The Shenzhen customs bureau announced on Tuesday that it had uncovered the biggest fossil-smuggling case since the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, reports Information Times.

In random checks made on January 18, customs officials discovered 2,165 fossils in a shipping container labelled as containing "handicraft objects". Five of the items were considered first-level State treasures.

The fossils were of such high quality and quantity that they could fill a museum all on their own, said experts after examining the contraband.

The container was traced to Chen Rongzhong, a Taiwan man who has been purchasing fossils in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region since 1992.

Chen escaped to Taiwan afterwards but attempted to return to Guilin secretly on June 27. He and four accomplices were promptly arrested. All suspects involved in the case have been caught, except for another Taiwan man surnamed Lu, said a Shenzhen customs official.

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