Chinese police bust a treasure theft in a famous Tibetan lamasery in northwest China's Qinghai Province, retrieving eight important relics adorned on a shrine pagoda in the temple.

The precious items in the Taer Monastery included one agate kettle and seven gems, which were relic decorations on the pagoda.

The items were recovered when police seized two suspects, said a spokesman with the provincial department of public security on Wednesday.

He said the police in Huangzhong County, where the monastery is, received the theft report from lamas on Friday, and immediately began tracking down suspects with the help of lamas in the temple.

He didn't specify the time of the seizure.

The Taer Monastery is one of the six biggest temples of the Gelug Sect in Tibet Buddhism. It was founded in 1560 to the Guru Tson-Khapa, founder of the Gelug Sect and teacher of the 1st Panchen Lama and 1st Dalai Lama.

For centuries, Buddhist believers consecrated treasures to the saint and adorned them on the pagoda. Some items in the monastery are under the state's first class relic protection.

The suspects, known only by surnames as Yang and Zhang, are from Yulin of west China's Shaanxi Province. During the police interrogation, they admitted that they planned to steal the precious stones with another accomplice surnamed Wang, who was still at large.

Relic thieves face more severe punishment than those who steal other properties in China. Normally, criminals are given three to ten years in jail. The severity of their punishment depends on the value and the amount of relics stolen. Theft of the state's first class relics attracts a life sentence or even the death penalty.

(Xinhua News Agency July 24, 2008)