There are thieves' holes (holes used to rob tombs) everywhere, and children often fall down accidentally.
Here, there are many stories of grave robbers getting rich overnight. "The police can't beat grave robbers" has become an open secret.
The local "insider" said that since a grave robbery case that once sensationalized the whole country and was supervised by the Ministry of Public Security was solved a few years ago, the trend of grave robbery has intensified.
This is the ancient capital Luoyang, where 24 emperors of 6 generations are buried, and there are many tombs.
The royal mausoleum may also be stolen.
Luoyang is located in the west of Henan Province, where nearly one third of the emperors in China's history were buried. Mangshan Mountain, north of Luoyang, is considered to be good in geomantic omen, thick in soil and low in water, suitable for funeral, and has always been regarded as an ideal resting place by emperors and wealthy businessmen. As Wang Jian, a poet in the Tang Dynasty, said in his poem, "There is little idle soil at the top of Mangshan Mountain, which is the old grave of Luoyang people. There are many people buried in the old graves, and there is no place to buy gold. "
The grave robbery industry has also continued for thousands of years with the reburial of the ancients. According to Mang Lee (pseudonym), who has been engaged in grave robbery for a long time, "grave robbery was restrained in the past few years, but it has been dug everywhere in recent years. It turns out that people in the industry recognize the rules and regulations, do not move the imperial tomb, do not kill people, and do not dig in broad daylight. Now, everyone is digging wildly, no matter what. "
The frequency of grave robbery can be seen from the recent investigation data of public security organs.
20 1 1 year 1 month 65438+3, a group of grave robbers robbed a tomb in Yiyang county, Luoyang, and three people were killed because of the collapse of the grave pit.
2011165438+6. Nine grave robbers dug up an ancient tomb of the Han Dynasty next to Zuozhaigou Village, pingle town, Mengjin County, Luoyang. That night, the villagers were awakened and called the police. During the escape of the grave robbers, three people fell into a deep ditch, one died and two were injured.
2011February 14, Mangshan Town, Luoyang, five grave robbers had a dispute over the uneven distribution of stolen goods, and one was killed on the spot.
……
The above situation can only be regarded as a "thief" in the facts known by the public security department.
2010165438+12, Longmen Grottoes core reserve was stolen, and an exquisite stone carving of Tang Dynasty was dug up.
In addition, people here are crazy about cultural relics, even to the point of looting. On April 12, 2009, in Jinlong Temple, Jincun Village, pingle town, Mengjin County, Luoyang, a group of people took away a stone Buddha of the Northern Wei Dynasty after taking control of the temple administrator, which has not been recovered yet.
"These are just tooling, secretly more. In fact, if it weren't for human life, being caught or behaving badly, maybe these things would have passed long ago. " Mang Lee said.
Under his leadership, the reporter from China Youth Daily came to Xiaoli Village, Chanhehuizu District, Luoyang City, the birthplace of the grave-robbing tool "Luoyang Shovel". In an open space outside the village, the reporter found six or seven stolen holes within a distance of about 50 meters. Fragments of antiquities and ancient bones are scattered around the stolen cave, and exploratory holes can be seen everywhere, every few tens of centimeters. Mang Lee said: "Judging from the scale of Han bricks and tombs here, most of them should be tombs of civilians in the Han Dynasty."
The villagers who herded sheep here told reporters that from 20 1 1, many grave robbers "patronized" here, not afraid of being discovered. "Some people dig at night and some people dig during the day."
"No one called the police to stop them?" China Youth Daily reporter asked.
"It's no use. Anyway, it will come out in two days, and we will get used to it. " The villagers answered.
The graves of civilians can't fill the appetite of grave robbers, so they extended the Luoyang shovel to the tombs of dignitaries. Near Shijiawan Village in Chanhe District, there is an ancient tomb of Han Dynasty, which covers an area of 100 square meters and is surrounded by square and round stolen holes. According to local villagers, this tomb should have been stolen many years ago, but no one has ever asked.
"This is not the most shocking. In recent years, some people even dared to move the imperial tomb. " Mang Lee told reporters.
On April 18, the reporter went to Huzhuang Village, songzhuang town, Mengjin County. A huge mausoleum with a height of about 20 meters and a width of 100 meters is located in the south of the village. The reporter learned from the two old people sitting next to the tomb that this is the tomb of the "Emperor", but the stone tablet recording the detailed information of the tombs such as the "Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit of Henan Province" was smashed several years ago.
The reporter found around the tomb that there are two stolen holes around the tomb, one of which has been buried, and the other has not been treated because of its hidden location. Climbing to the top of the mausoleum, the reporter found a huge stolen hole. According to the accompanying grave robbers, the stolen hole was formed by blasting with explosives.
It is understood that this area belongs to Mangshan Mausoleum Group, which was announced as the fifth batch of national key cultural relics protection units in June 200 1 year. The tombs here should belong to the royal tombs of the Han Dynasty.
Subsequently, led by Mang Lee, the reporter visited two other similar tombs in songzhuang town and found the existence of the stolen caves. "I learned from my friends in the circle that these holes were dug in recent years. I heard that one of them dug up a truck, and the whole industry was shocked. In the past, when we said that the imperial tombs could not be stolen, we meant that these cultural relics protection units could not be stolen, because once they were investigated, the people would be afraid. But now, I am brave. " Mang Lee said.
How powerful is the law?
As the saying goes, behind the huge interest temptation, the legal sanctions faced by grave robbers are actually quite severe.
"The lightest act of piracy is public security punishment, and the most important thing is to be sentenced to death." Zhong, former director of a grassroots police station in Luoyang, told reporters.
Article 328 of the current Criminal Law stipulates that whoever excavates ancient cultural sites and ancient tombs with historical, artistic and scientific value shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than three years but not more than ten years and fined; If the circumstances are relatively minor, they shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years, criminal detention or public surveillance, and shall also be fined. The law also clearly stipulates that in any of the following four cases, he shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than 10 years, life imprisonment or death, and shall also be fined or confiscated. These four situations are as follows: (1) Excavating ancient cultural sites and ancient tombs identified as national key cultural relics protection units and provincial cultural relics protection units; (two) the ringleaders of the theft and excavation of ancient cultural sites and ancient tombs; (three) repeatedly excavating ancient cultural sites and ancient tombs; (four) excavating ancient cultural sites and ancient tombs, stealing precious cultural relics or causing serious damage to precious cultural relics.
Even though the criminal law amendment (VIII) to be implemented in May this year 1 abolished the death penalty for grave robbery, it still retained the legal deterrent of the maximum life imprisonment.
In addition, with the improvement of China's legal system, there are not many legal loopholes in cultural relics crimes, and the punishment for cultural relics crimes in China is gradually increasing. However, in this case, the recent national conference on cultural relics safety and law enforcement supervision held in Zhengzhou, Henan Province once again confirmed the grim situation faced by China's cultural relics safety protection. Data from the Criminal Investigation Bureau of the Ministry of Public Security show that the excavation of ancient tombs is on the rise. According to the reporter's visit, in rural Luoyang, where there are many ancient tombs, the vast majority of young and middle-aged villagers have directly or indirectly participated in grave robbery.
Why did the grave robbers not disappear, but abandoned the cautious rules before, dared to expose themselves in broad daylight, risked the maximum death penalty, and madly robbed the ancient tomb?
In a conversation with a businessman who specializes in "Luoyang shovel", the reporter found the answer: "Is the death penalty useful? Anyway, no one is in charge now, and it doesn't matter how it is stipulated. "
As if to confirm the businessman's words, when the reporter found that there was a modern stolen cave in Mangshan Mausoleum and reported it to the local songzhuang town police station, the reply was "We generally don't care about this matter" and "I'll ask the leader".
When the reporter called the songzhuang town police station again to inquire about the result of "asking for instructions from the leader", the other party replied that if it could be proved that it was a modern hole theft, the police could investigate the matter.
"Now we don't want to engage in cultural relics cases, and we don't want to engage in them," said a leader of Luoyang grassroots police station who asked not to be named. He said that this is not to say that the police colluded with grave robbers. "The grave robbers we usually caught were quickly released because of various pressures, and there was no way to catch them. No one is organized above, and it is not active below. "
A poaching incident at the beginning of this year confirmed the words of the leaders of grassroots police stations. 20 1 1 year 1 month 65438+6 One day, a 9-member robbery gang came to Zuozhaigou Village, Mozhuang Town, Mengjin County late at night, ready to steal a Han tomb at the head of the village, and was discovered by the villagers. The villagers repeatedly called the Songzhuang police station to call the police, but nothing happened. They also called the neighboring Pingle police station. After the police car arrived, the grave robbers ran away. After being arrested, the robbers were all released soon.
"As a policeman, why don't you want to touch cultural relics cases? Why don't you persist in the face of pressure? " China Youth Daily reporter asked.
"Because we are afraid to fight against grave robbers." The policeman replied.
"How did that happen? What can grave robbers do to the police? " The reporter asked.
"yes."
After finding the umbrella, the police of the task force were "double-regulated"
In this policeman's mouth, "what can be done to the police" refers to "12. 10", which is famous in Luoyang and even Henan's public security system and cultural relics. Zhang Jianyue, deputy detachment leader of the Supervision Detachment of Luoyang Public Security Bureau, who participated in the investigation of this case, told the reporter, "If we have to make this case short, it is a matter of' the police can't beat the grave robbers'."
Under the information provided by the members of the original "12 10" case, the reporter restored this bizarre case that year.
At the end of June 2002, the Ministry of Public Security received a tip-off letter. A self-proclaimed cultural relic lover said that he found the phenomenon of reselling cultural relics in Luoyang rampant. "I have collected cultural relics all my life and have never seen such a fine product with my own eyes." These cultural relics passed through Guangzhou and Hong Kong and were lost overseas. The enthusiast said that the cultural relics he saw, regardless of quantity or value, "even the exhibition collections of Luoyang Museum are hard to match". He also mentioned in his letter that the smuggling of cultural relics in Luoyang was basically controlled by the Song brothers in Luoyang, and all the cultural relics he saw were kept by the Song brothers.
On February 4, 2002, at 65438, Bai Jingfu, then vice minister of the Ministry of Public Security, gave instructions: "Organize special forces, carefully design the command, and catch them all as soon as possible."
On June 5438+February 10, 2002, the Ministry of Public Security instructed the Criminal Investigation Bureau to convene a special meeting of the leaders of the public security departments of Henan and Guangdong provinces, and asked the investigation departments of Henan and Guangdong to organize investigations, find out the facts of the crimes involved, and completely cut off the smuggling channel of cultural relics in Henan. This is the project "12 10".
On June 5, 2002+February 6, 2002+February 3, 2002, Zhang Chengfeng, then director of the Henan Provincial Public Security Department, also gave instructions that we must attach great importance to it and ensure that the gang was caught.
The famous Song brothers in grave robbery refer to Song (the son of Song's parents) and Song Yanqing (ranked third). The other two brothers of the Song family, the second and the fourth, both work in Luoyang public security system. After investigation by the "12 10" task force, Song and Song Yanqing brothers began to participate in the activities of reselling cultural relics in the early 1990s, forming a "one-stop" criminal network of excavating ancient tombs and reselling smuggled cultural relics, gradually controlling the circulation channels of underground cultural relics in Luoyang and monopolizing the black market of reselling cultural relics in Luoyang.
According to the relevant materials of the task force, after preliminary investigation, more than 200 people were involved in the case, involving Shaanxi, Shanxi, Henan, Guangdong, Hong Kong, Macao and other places. A large number of national precious cultural relics were lost overseas, causing irreparable losses to the country. In addition, the task force has also mastered the criminal cases 164 involved in the gang, and 43 cases have met the conditions for prosecution; 565 pieces of various cultural relics were collected, including 44 pieces of national cultural relics/kloc-0.
The "12 10" task force was led by Yang Desheng, then deputy director of the Henan Provincial Public Security Department, with criminal investigation and technical investigation of the Provincial Public Security Department and criminal police of Luoyang Public Security Bureau as the main forces.
On the night of June 65438+1October 65438+March 2003, the task force made the first arrest. 65438+1On October 28th, the third son, Song Yanqing, was arrested and brought to justice, and the eldest son, Song, fled to this day. Up to now, the task force has arrested 9 1 person.
In August 2003, the case was listed as a major case supervised by the Ministry of Public Security.
With the deepening of case investigation, the task force found the clue of "protective umbrella" behind the Song brothers. During the investigation, the task force found that a middle-level leader of the police was closely related to the main people involved and was implicated in some cases.
In March, 2004, Cai Wutang, who was captured by the task force, made meritorious deeds for atonement and asked to meet Zhang Taixue, then director of Luoyang Public Security Bureau and main leader of the "12 10" project leading group. On April 16 of that year, Zhang Taixue led the case handlers to interrogate Cai Wutang. According to the investigation data of the task force, Cai Wutang exposed his long-term abnormal economic relationship with a deputy department-level official.
Just as the investigation by the task force made progress, things changed.
In April of that year, on 18, the investigation team of the Henan Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection "double-regulated" Zhang Jianyue, the person in charge of the specific work of the "12. 10" task force, and Li Xiaoxuan, the main leader. You Yimin, the former deputy head of the Criminal Police Detachment of Luoyang Public Security Bureau, was asked to go to the Commission for Discipline Inspection for investigation. Soon, Wang, the former political commissar of the criminal police detachment who participated in the task force, was also "double-regulated". The reason for all this behavior is that the criminal police detachment of Luoyang City is suspected of setting up a "small treasury" privately.
The project supervised by the Ministry of Public Security almost ran aground.
"When I was informed to ask questions in the office of the Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection in Romania, the staff rarely asked questions about the' small treasury', but kept asking me about the work of the task force." Zhang Jianyue said.
Other task force staff who were investigated by the "double regulations" also reported that it was a problem of checking the "small treasury" of the criminal police detachment, but most of them were task force personnel, including those who had nothing to do with money, including materials and back office, and were asked about the work of the task force the most, and some of them reported that they had been treated unfairly. "They take turns watching me, and they are not allowed to eat or sleep for three days. I feel that life is not as good as death. " Zhang Jianyue said.
Zhang Jianyue and other members of the task force fled to Beijing in various forms and hid in the guest house of the Ministry of Public Security to write materials and reflect the situation. The police became petitioners.
Since then, the investigation results of the Commission for Discipline Inspection show that the "small treasury" is a legacy of the system. The detailed management of the account's income and expenditure is standardized, and individual police officers have not violated the rules in the use of funds. All "small treasury" expenses are used for handling cases.
After being proved innocent, Zhang Jianyue and his party returned to Luoyang. "But the invisible forces that interfere with the investigation have not given up." Zhang Jianyue said.
Since May 2004, Luoyang police began to make personnel adjustments. Zhang Taixue, then the director of Luoyang Public Security Bureau, was once a legend of Henan police, known as the "blue sky", and was transferred to the deputy director of Henan Civil Defense Office. At that time, the Ministry of Public Security was organizing to learn the advanced experience of Luoyang Public Security.
Since then, Li Xiaoxuan, then deputy director of Luoyang Public Security Bureau and detachment leader of Interpol detachment, took off his police uniform and transferred to the Political and Legal Committee; Zhang Jianyue, former member of the Party Committee of the Criminal Police Detachment of Luoyang Public Security Bureau and the specific person in charge of the project, was transferred to Luoyang High-tech Zone Public Security Bureau as the deputy director; You Yimin, the former deputy captain of the first brigade of the Criminal Police Detachment of Luoyang Public Security Bureau, was transferred to the patrol detachment as the deputy captain. In addition, other major members of the task force were also transferred in a short time.
Later, many members of the task force were "double-regulated" for two years, but in the end no serious violations of discipline and law were found. "If we found out, we wouldn't be here." You Yimin said.
The reporter learned from many sources that after the key members of the "12 10" task force were transferred in 2004, there was no public information about the case. The "12 10" project supervised by the Ministry of Public Security has been stranded for several years.
China Youth Daily reporter contacted Luoyang Public Security Bureau and Henan Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection to understand the above situation, but as of press time, no reply was received.
Today, Song Yanhai, the second son of Song Jia, is the director of Mengjin County Public Security Bureau in Henan Province, and Song, the fourth son, is the captain of the drug control team of Luoyang Public Security Bureau. Through the media, the two denied that they acted as brothers' umbrellas, saying that they had no knowledge of stealing and selling cultural relics.
Can the police crack down on grave robbers?
"Knowing the final result, our hearts are cold." Zhong, the former director of a grassroots police station in Luoyang, told the reporter, "In the end, even the director did not stay."
In September 2003, Song Yanqing, the third son of the Song family, was sentenced to 5 years and 6 months in prison. After two months in prison, Song Yanqing was released on bail pending trial.
"These things have become the embarrassment of the police." Mang Lee said, "Now, the police may not dare to rob a tomb unless it is a major case. Even if they are caught, they are actually coolies and the bottom of the grave robbery system. The boss of the above' supporting the pot' (paying money to organize grave robbery), the big boss with access and channels behind him, can catch very little. "
20 10 1 1.2 After the core protection area of Longmen Grottoes was stolen, the public security system also set up a "1.2" task force. However, according to previous media reports, the "1 1.2" task force almost encountered the same dilemma as the "12 10" task force. When the case was first handed over to the Luolong District Procuratorate, the prosecution returned the case file and asked for further investigation. One of the four policemen who handled the case has been transferred. The remaining three members of the case were allegedly asked to merge only the existing evidence and not pursue other clues.
According to media reports, on April 7th, the leaders of Criminal Investigation Corps of Henan Provincial Public Security Bureau asked Longmen Police Station of Luolong District Public Security Bureau of Luoyang City to continue to pursue the case of "1 1.2", but according to a cadre of Luoyang Public Security Bureau, the tracing work has not been carried out so far.
The cadre also told reporters that since the case of "12 10" ran aground, the criminal investigation detachment of Luoyang Public Security Bureau rarely filed a case to investigate cultural relics.
Who can make grave robbers fear the law here?
Here, who can let the law punish grave robbers?
Who can untie the knot in the hearts of Luoyang police and let them safely guard the ancient capital Luoyang, the burial place of the 6 th generation and 24 th emperors?