Thirty members of a "tomb raider" gang were given jail sentences for plunder of ancient relics as a high-profile tomb robbery case came to a close at the end of 2015.

On Thursday, the Chaoyang Intermediate People's Court pronounced life sentences for five defendants, including their leader who bears the surname Yao, for robbing tombs in the Hongshan cultural relic protection region. The remaining 25 defendants were sentence to three to 15 years in prison, according to China Daily.

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It is worth noting that four of the accused were archaeologists. Yao spent years learning how to locate ancient tombs and later on became an expert in doing so. He could spot an ancient tomb simply by looking at the landscape, the South China Morning Post reports.

The gang leader reportedly never shared his secret and techniques in spotting and searching tombs. He always checked out a site alone. However, his weakness was gambling and he often used relics to pay in casinos. After losing all his money, Yao would start raiding tombs again, the report relays.

The handing out of the jail sentence marks the closing of the biggest cultural plunder case in the history of the People's Republic of China. The number of stolen relics and people involved in the tomb robbery are record breaking, the court added.

Criminal law professor Chen Zhijun of the People's Public Security University of China hailed the jail sentence, and said a tomb robbery of this scale has not been seen since the 1980s. Beijing-based criminal lawyer Zhao Li echoed Chen's thoughts and said the crime they committed was a serious one.

"After all, robbing a grave isn't like stealing other property," said Zhao. "Because some relics cannot be repaired after they are damaged, and some are priceless."

The court said 280 out of the 1,200 stolen ancient relics were recovered. Twenty-nine of the items are classified under the national level. The value of the stolen goods has not been disclosed.

TagsTomb Raider, tomb robbery, ancient relics, Chinese tomb raider