Three Hong Kong Men Receive Jail Sentences for $637 M. Art Heist – RisePEI
A Hong Kong court docket sentenced three males to two-and-a-half years in jail for stealing a bunch of beneficial stamps, cash, and artifacts from a collector in 2020. On the time of the heist, Hong Kong officers referred to as it the largest ever to happen within the metropolis.
The stolen property has been valued at $637 million, and most of the items have nonetheless not been recovered. The objects all belonged to collector Fu Chunxiao, who had stored them in his Hong Kong house. Fu was in mainland China when the heist occurred.
Among the many costliest objects stolen was a nine-foot-long scroll containing a Politburo report that Mao Zedong had written in calligraphy in 1929. Fu claimed that he deliberate to donate the scroll to an establishment.
Based on Hong Kong authorities, the thieves didn’t know the way essential this scroll was, they usually offered it for the equal of $25 to an novice purchaser, who additionally didn’t know its true worth and minimize it in two to stow it away extra simply.
Police have since recovered the scroll. Officers have valued it at $300 million. Additionally stolen in the course of the heist have been 1000’s of stamps and 10 bronze cash.
The three males who obtained jail sentences—Ho Yik-chiu, Ng Wing-lun, and Hui Ping-kei—all pleaded responsible. Throughout their trial, legal professionals reportedly offered proof that that they had tried heists beforehand.
Speaking to the South China Morning Post, Fu stated that he discovered their sentences “too lenient given the worth of misplaced objects.”
