Police in China has made swift arrests of 26 people believed to be involved in stealing ancient artifacts unearthed from a burial site. These were believed to have been relics dating way back to China's Tang Dynasty.

These objects were said to have been excavated illegally from the site, located in Qinghai, in the north-west of China. The suspects were said to have been preparing to sell them for about $11 million. These items, according to BBC UK, were dated back to the 7th century. Along with these objects, other items from the period-totaling up to 650 curios-were being offered to be sold on the black market.

These objects came from the Dulan Tombs, an important site that is located on the Silk Road of old. The place is a designated UNESCO World Heritage site and, as such, the suspects' crimes are compounded further by this fact.

This is not the first time a theft of this magnitude happened. Last July, tomb raiders were caught stealing artifacts from a Ming Dynasty tomb. The suspects received a sentence between four and twelve years for their crimes, which also included a previous heist in 2016. The Ming Dynasty-era site consisted of tombs and mausoleums. Though most have been reduced to rubble through time, it still remains an important part of history and has also been designated a World Heritage site.

The thieves worked through broken surveillance cameras and faulty alarms. Guards at the tomb also weren't alert enough, discovering the theft only two months after it has occurred. The thieves, investigation points out, managed to load the artifacts on a waiting cart and had rolled the artifacts to their getaway car. The artifacts were said to belong to the front yard of the Emperor Zhu Youjian's tomb.

These artifacts were worth 90,000 yuan and 150,000 yuan, respectively, and a buyer was waiting in the Fangshan district of Beijing and the Huairou district. These artifacts were allegedly used for ritual sacrifices during their day.

These arrests led to the police tightening their watch on heritage sites. The artifacts from the latest heist were part of a very important historical find that highlighted how trade existed between the East and the West dating as far back as the early part of the Tang Dynasty.