The photo, taken on April 10, 2015, shows an ancient jade artifact meant to depict a coiled dragon, which was recovered after 175 people were busted for conducting a large-scale raid on ancient tombs in the city of Lingyuan, Liaoning province. China's Ministry of Public Security made the mass arrest public on May 26, 2015. [Photo: Xinhua/Pan Yulong]

Chinese police announced Tuesday that they had arrested 175 people in connection with a large-scale tomb raid in the city of Lingyuan, Liaoning province.

Police recovered 1,168 cultural relics in the bust.

The tomb raiders are suspected of conducting illegal excavations in Niuheliang, a Neolithic site in the northeastern province of Liaoning.

The area is known for the Hongshan Cultural Relics Site, the earliest known signs of Chinese civilization dating back more than 5,000 years.

The recovered artifacts include a coiled jade dragon, one of the earliest known representations of the Chinese totem.

Police said that the tomb raiders had an established network that would quickly move the excavated artifacts on the black market.

The Ministry of Public Security estimates that the artifacts are worth more than 500 million yuan, or 80 million U.S. dollars.

It's being described as the biggest arrest of its kind since the People's Republic of China was founded in 1949.

The operation took nine months and involved more than 1,000 police officers.

Meanwhile, four archeologists are suspected of participating in the tomb raid and selling the stolen artifacts.

According to China Daily, one of the accused, an artisan at an archaeological institute in Liaoning, allegedly stole a coiled jade dragon at a salvage excavation site in Sept 2010 and sold for 3.2 million yuan, or more than 510,000 U.S. dollars, in 2012.

The report also alleges that artifact dealers conduct price negotiations at excavation sites to fast-track the sales process.