Torn in half … a manuscript worth a quarter of a...

The Chinese police in Hong Kong recovered a precious scroll in which the founder of the People’s Republic of China, Chinese Communist leader Mao Zedong wrote some of his poems, but the police said that the scroll of poetic texts of Mao was damaged, it was cut in half.

The fascia is estimated to be worth more than 250 million euros. Thieves stole it from the home of Chinese antique collector “Fu Chunxiao” in Hong Kong in September.

According to Fu, the gang stole five billion Hong Kong dollars (548 million euros) during their storming of the house, including old postage stamps and items of mainland revolution. In addition to Maos hair, police have since found two bronze coins.

The German magazine Der Spiegel quoted the South China Morning newspaper, according to police sources, that a man bought the package for 500 Hong Kong dollars (equivalent to 55 euros) and that he thought it was fake and cut it in half.

According to Agence France-Presse, investigators expected that the thieves did not fit the length of the package and therefore cut it. Police Chief Tony said one person claimed that it was extremely difficult to pass the package because of its length. Police said evidence provided by a taxi driver resulted in the arrest of three. Two other accused remain at large.

The late Chinese leader Mao Zedong was careful not only to present himself as a communist thinker and leader, but also as a poet. A manuscript in the form of a “scroll” with Maos poems sold for the equivalent of 55 euros, knowing that its value is estimated at a quarter of a billion euros.