Beijing police detained eight people from an organized tomb-raiding group obsessed with fengshui, police said Friday.

Police only gave the surnames of two detainees as Wang and Shi and said three others were still in captivity, pending further investigation.

"Wang, from the central Henan Province, confessed that the 11-strong crew had consulted fengshui masters and raided more than 50 tombs in the Daxing, Chaoyang, Tongzhou and Fangshan districts in Beijing since he and 10 others met in 2006," said Zhang Jun, an officer with Beijing Public Security Bureau.

Fengshui is the traditional Chinese study of geomantic omens used to find auspicious locations for buildings and cemeteries.

Zhang said the raiders employed a fengshui consultant who drew maps of possible ancient tomb locations in suburban Beijing, capital of six Chinese dynasties.

"The fengshui master even gave them magic artifacts to ward off evil before the raids," he added.

The raiders used a two-meter-long iron probe to detect underground coffins in the target areas.

Chinese tomb raiders often make a fortune by raiding ancient tombs in a country where wealthy people used to be buried with treasures, such as gold, silverware and jade articles, in the hope of enjoying an affluent afterlife.

The group of raiders had stolen a large number of cultural relics dating back to the Qing Dynasty (1644-1912), the last ruling dynasty of China, Zhang said.

About 20 ancient coins, 14 agate beads and many gold items with at least 300 years' history were confiscated by police.

The police investigation started when a farmer from Changziying township of Daxing district, Beijing, told police his crops had been intentionally chopped down and damaged.

After consulting cultural relics departments, police believed it was a tomb raider case and found an ancient family tomb from the Qing Dynasty underground.

Local police formed a special team to investigate the case and captured 11 suspects on Aug. 5.

Chinese media regarded them as a live-version of a famous Fengshui tomb raider fictional book, "Guichuideng", or "The Adventure of Three Tomb Raiders".

The fiction series, featuring tomb raiding and fengshui, has gained great popularity among the country's youngsters over the past three years.

(Xinhua News Agency August 22, 2009)