Beijing, Aug. 17 (Reuters): The head of a relics protection department at a former Chinese imperial palace has been sentenced to death for stealing the artefacts he was meant to protect, the Xinhua news agency said today.

Li Haitao was found guilty of stealing 259 relics from the Eight Outer Temples, part of the World Heritage Chengde Mountain Resort site in central Hebei Province, and replacing them with fakes.

The crimes took place between 1992 and 2002 when Li was head of the Cultural Relics Protection Department.

“Li pocketed more than 3.2 million yuan ($385,500) and $72,000 by selling 152 pieces of cultural relics he had stolen,” Xinhua said.

Police had seized more than 100 relics from his private collection, it said.

The Intermediate People’s Court of Chengde city also sentenced four of Li’s accomplices to jail terms from between two and five years.