Zhuhai’s Gongbei Customs announced in a statement yesterday that its officers at the Qingmao checkpoint seized 20 cultural relics recently.
According to the statement, the customs officers discovered an anomaly in the image when they conducted an X-ray inspection of a male traveller’s backpack in the “green channel” of the pedestrian checkpoint’s exit hall.
Upon inspection, they discovered a total of 20 suspected cultural relics, namely silver coins, in the backpack, the statement said, adding that on April 17, the Cultural Relics Appraisal Station of Guangdong Province identified the artefacts as silver coins from between the 18th and 20th centuries, which are classified as general cultural relics prohibited from being taken out of the Chinese mainland.
Gongbei Customs reminded the public that according to the Cultural Relics Protection Law of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), any cultural relics intended for export must undergo inspection by an authorised cultural relics exit-entry examination agency designated by the State Council’s cultural relics administration.
Upon approval, the State Administration of Cultural Heritage will issue an exit permit for verified cultural relics, and the relics can only be exported through designated border checkpoints.
Any entity or individual shipping, mailing, or carrying cultural relics out of the mainland must declare them to customs, and customs officers will release the items only upon presentation of the verified cultural relics’ export permits.
This undated handout photo provided by Zhuhai’s Gongbei Customs yesterday shows 20 silver coins from between the 18th and 20th centuries, seized by its officers recently.
