Police find more stolen treasures
By Claire Wang |
May 14, 2011, Saturday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
FOUR of the seven gold art objects stolen from the Palace Museum in Beijing have been recovered while three are still missing, police said yesterday.
Nine art objects displayed in the museum were discovered missing on Monday morning. Two items were recovered nearby, both slightly damaged.
The suspect, Shi Baikui, a 28-year-old Shandong Province native, was detained in an Internet cafe in Fengtai District on Wednesday.
However, Shi's family and other residents in Shizhuang Village, his hometown, couldn't believe he was able to pull off such a heist as he was considered to be a quiet and honest person, yesterday's Shandong-based Qilu Evening News reported.
Shi, the youngest son of one of the poorest families in the village, dropped out of school when he was 11 as his parents couldn't afford the tuition fees.
When he was 15, Shi fell off scaffolding while he was helping build a house and injured his spine. After that he couldn't do heavy physical work or stand for a long time.
Later he left his hometown to work in cities. For more than 10 years Shi worked in restaurants, on construction sites and at other places in Shandong and Beijing but could never afford to send money home to his parents.
Shi seldom returned to his hometown but each time he went back, he didn't visit many relatives and neighbors. He said he felt ashamed because he couldn't earn big money, Li Hongcui, Shi's mother, told the newspaper.
His parents hadn't heard from him since he left after this year's Spring Festival in February. Initially he went to Hohhot City in the northern Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region to work on a construction site with his brother. But he quit after a month.
"I gave him 300 yuan (US$46) to let him go back home. But he lied ... and couldn't be reached because he didn't have a cellphone. It never occurred to me that he went to Beijing and did such a horrible thing," Shi Baiqiang, his brother, told the newspaper.
Shi told police that theft was not on his mind when he entered the museum but cropped up after he listened to the introductions to the exhibits.
He hid in the museum until closing, broke a window on the northern side of the exhibition hall and proceeded to steal the items, police said.
The gold pieces, encrusted with jewels, were on loan from Hong Kong-based Liang Yi Museum and were on show in the museum's Chengsu Hall.
Nine art objects displayed in the museum were discovered missing on Monday morning. Two items were recovered nearby, both slightly damaged.
The suspect, Shi Baikui, a 28-year-old Shandong Province native, was detained in an Internet cafe in Fengtai District on Wednesday.
However, Shi's family and other residents in Shizhuang Village, his hometown, couldn't believe he was able to pull off such a heist as he was considered to be a quiet and honest person, yesterday's Shandong-based Qilu Evening News reported.
Shi, the youngest son of one of the poorest families in the village, dropped out of school when he was 11 as his parents couldn't afford the tuition fees.
When he was 15, Shi fell off scaffolding while he was helping build a house and injured his spine. After that he couldn't do heavy physical work or stand for a long time.
Later he left his hometown to work in cities. For more than 10 years Shi worked in restaurants, on construction sites and at other places in Shandong and Beijing but could never afford to send money home to his parents.
Shi seldom returned to his hometown but each time he went back, he didn't visit many relatives and neighbors. He said he felt ashamed because he couldn't earn big money, Li Hongcui, Shi's mother, told the newspaper.
His parents hadn't heard from him since he left after this year's Spring Festival in February. Initially he went to Hohhot City in the northern Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region to work on a construction site with his brother. But he quit after a month.
"I gave him 300 yuan (US$46) to let him go back home. But he lied ... and couldn't be reached because he didn't have a cellphone. It never occurred to me that he went to Beijing and did such a horrible thing," Shi Baiqiang, his brother, told the newspaper.
Shi told police that theft was not on his mind when he entered the museum but cropped up after he listened to the introductions to the exhibits.
He hid in the museum until closing, broke a window on the northern side of the exhibition hall and proceeded to steal the items, police said.
The gold pieces, encrusted with jewels, were on loan from Hong Kong-based Liang Yi Museum and were on show in the museum's Chengsu Hall.
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