Truck Full Of Smuggled Antiques Seized

Customs officers seized 147 Chinese antiques, including pottery jars made thousands of years ago, and arrested the truck driver trying to smuggle them into Hong Kong.

The Customs Department said Friday it was one of the largest such seizures.

Among the items seized were 36 pottery jars made during China’s New Stone Age (8000 B.C.- 4000 B.C.), two bronze tripods from the Ming Dynasty (A.D. 1368 - A.D.1644) and six stone Buddha heads.

Some of the items appeared to have been stolen from graves, a Customs Department statement said. No value was given for the antiques, which will be returned to China.