The picture shows the stolen chimes of the "Mother of Han's Tomb". (Photo courtesy of Huai'an Municipal Procuratorate)
It has always been considered to be the "tomb of Han Mother" of Han Xin's mother's tomb in the early Han Dynasty, which was stolen at the end of last year, and the police found a hidden case two years ago in the investigation of this case, and recovered 9 stolen bronze bells and 9 bronze auxiliary rings in the hidden case at the beginning of this year.
This reporter recently learned from the Qingjiangpu District People's Procuratorate in Huai'an City, Jiangsu Province. At present, the Huai'an public security organs have arrested a total of 11 suspects in two tomb robbery cases and handed them over to the Qingjiangpu District People's Procuratorate for examination and prosecution.
The picture shows the "Tomb of Han's Mother". (Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Zhu Guoliang)
"Han Mu Tomb" is a municipal cultural relics protection unit in Huai'an City, the tomb is about 8 meters high, the bottom diameter is about 20 meters, the circumference is more than 90 meters, the surrounding is a dense forest, in a tomb group.
On December 17, 2023, the Huai'an Public Security Bureau received a report from the public, saying that the "Han Mother's Tomb" may have been stolen. The police immediately rushed to the scene to investigate and found a robbery hole about 5 meters deep, and according to the remnants of the scene, 8 suspects suspected of robbing the tomb were quickly arrested.
Zhang Tao, director of the First Procuratorate Department of the Qingjiangpu District People's Procuratorate, said that due to water seepage and landslides in the robbery hole, the eight people did not actually steal the cultural relics in the tomb. However, according to the confession of the suspect involved in the case, the police found and successfully cracked a hidden case of theft of the "Han Mother's Tomb" in 2021, and arrested the other 3 suspects at the beginning of this year, and recovered 9 stolen bronze bells and 9 bronze auxiliary head rings in the hidden case. According to the appraisal of experts, these bells and auxiliary head rings are cultural relics of the Warring States Period, and 9 of them have been identified as national second-class cultural relics.
The picture shows the prosecutor's case officer inspecting the stolen bronze chime. (Photo courtesy of Huai'an Municipal Procuratorate)
Experts from the Huai'an Institute of Cultural Relics Protection and Archaeology said that the bronze bells recovered by the police showed that the past research may be wrong, and the "Han Mother Tomb" is not the tomb of Han Xin's mother, but a tomb of the princes during the Warring States Period, which has high research and protection value.
Source: Xinhua News Agency