3 jailed for Hong Kong's priciest art heist, after selling billion
Three burglars who carried out a record-breaking US$637 million art heist in Hong Kong but remained oblivious to the value of their historic haul were jailed on Friday, local media reported.
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Processing… Success! You're on the list. Whoops! There was an error and we couldn't process your subscription. Please reload the page and try again.Hong Kong’s art community was rocked by the theft that included a two-metre tall scroll containing a 1929 Politburo report written by Mao Zedong valued at hundreds of millions of dollars – but was sold to an amateur collector for just HK$200 (US$25).
When police recovered the parchment a month after it was stolen, they discovered it had been cut in half to make it easier to store by the collector, who also did not realise it was genuine.
A calligraphy letter and handwritten poem by Mao remain missing, as do dozens of sets of highly prized Chinese stamps, the Post reported.
A collector who received some of the goods alerted the police once he realised the items were stolen.
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