Two men were detained after they stole 13 pieces of cultural relics from an ancient tomb in their backyard in Tongchuan, northwest China's Shaanxi province, according to a report in Huashang Daily.

A man surnamed Gao employed workers to dig cistern in his backyard on the morning of March 12. At around the noon, the workers said that they dug a tomb in that area. Gao called his nephew for help. After they opened the tomb, they took out 12 pieces of pottery and an ancient sword along with skeletons. They covered the cistern and the tomb.

"Gao told his discovery to his son-in-law surnamed Hao who lives in central China's Henan province and Hao drove to Tongchuan, early on the morning of March 13 to take those cultural relics back to Henan where he would sell them," local police authority said.

On the night of March 18, Gao told the police where the 13 pieces of relics had gone. Police retrieved all the stolen relics at the home of Hao.

Preliminary study shows that the tomb Gao dug dates back to Han Dynasty. "The final results will be released by local relics experts," said local police.