They seized 5,759 individual relics including porcelain, calligraphy and paintings, coins, bronzes, books, woodenware and fossils, according to Thursday's Beijing Daily.

Most of the relics were bound for southeast Asian countries and regions, or countries like Britain, Germany and Canada, the paper quoted customs officers as saying.

The number of relics smuggled by mail and express mail rose sharply compared with those smuggled by people in the past two years, customs officers said. In 2001, relics smuggled by express mail accounted for 35 percent of the total seized that year.

Smuggling fossils has also increased. According to customs statistics, 31 smuggled fossils were seized in 2002, compared with seven in 2001.

(People’s Daily February 28, 2003)