Officials at the Ministry of Public Security have announced the arrest of 175 grave robbers and the confiscation of up to 1,168 ancient relics. Government authorities estimate that the recovered relics have a combined worth of more than $80 million (500 million Yuan).

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According to ECNS, the ministry believes that the grave robbers are likely to have conducted their operations in a Neolithic archaeological area called Niuheliang, located in the north east part of Liaoning Province. 

Among the many rescued relics is one of the earliest known Chinese totems - a coiled dragon made of jade, according to The New York Times.

Chinese authorities have revealed that the tomb raiders are members of different gangs. Each gang reportedly had a unique role from the excavation to the sales of the relics. 

To date, this loot is touted as the largest amount of precious relics recovered in the country. However, this is not the first of such arrests to be made, nor will it be the last.

In 2014, authorities arrested more than a hundred people and confiscated over a thousand relics in Shaoxing, Zhejiang Province, according to South China Morning Post. A 1,800-year-old Jin Dynasty bronze mirror was among the artifacts recovered. Just like Niuheliang, Shaoxing is a site that contains many ancient graves - a number of them are dated to be thousands of years old. 

The police noted that many grave robbers have sufficient knowledge with regards to the tombs that they are desecrating. One of the special tools used by grave robbers is the "Luoyang shovel" which was invented specifically for grave robbing in 1923. 

Tomb raiding is a serious problem in China. Peking University archaeologist Lei Xingshan believes that a vast majority of the ancient tombs in the country have been emptied by grave robbers.

TagsTomb Raider, ancient chinese tomb, grave robbers, archeology, Grave robbing incidents, biggest grave robbing in China, grave robbing cases