The local police in Lhasa’s Dhagze district has arrested a 16 member group on charges of robbing tombs and stealing relics from the ruins of temples in Lhasa, Tibet. While there has been a lot of destruction of old Tibetan buildings in different parts of Tibet, especially Lhasa, to make way for reconstruction under the Chinese authorities to convert them into commercial complexes.
“Police in Tibet had arrested 16 people, alleged to be the members of a gang of tomb-raiders, and recovered 53 cultural relics, including Buddha statue stolen by them from the ruins of a temple in Lhasa.” said the report in Business Standard on Wednesday adding that, “The gang had raided the ruins of a temple in Paggarxoi Village of Dagze District, the regional capital Lhasa, between June and July this year.”
The local police is reported to have recovered around 53 relics from those arrested and they are still looking for the remaining gang members of the tomb raiders. It is well known today that old Tibetan monasteries and temples posses highly valuable antique artifacts such as the gold painted buddha statues, paintings and other relics.
In addition to demolishing of traditional Tibetan monasteries and temples, an extensive part of historically important buildings such as the former home to the parents of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, are being demolished to make way for constructing commercial complexes in contrary to renovating and preserving them.
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