LANZHOU, Aug. 12 -- Police in northwest China's Gansu Province have helped retrieve a valuable piece of bronzeware ransacked by tomb raiders from a grave in Shanxi Province.

The cultural relic, known as "jianpen," a bronze pot of the late Western Zhou Dynasty (1046-771 B.C.) was resold several times, after it was robbed by tomb raiders in Shanxi, according to the Lanzhou Municipal Public Security Bureau.

Police found it in a warehouse rented by a purchaser in a rural district of Lanzhou, the provincial capital of Gansu. The relic is currently being transferred to Shanxi by police.

The Ministry of Public Security and the National Cultural Heritage Administration on Aug. 1 launched a five-month crackdown campaign on cultural relic-related crimes.

Cultural heritage authorities were asked to closely cooperate with police and strengthen both their early warning capability and the prevention of cultural relic-related crimes.