A high-profile tomb robbery case was closed at the end of last year, with 30 defendants given sentences ranging from three years to life imprisonment, a court in Liaoning province said on Monday.

The Chaoyang Intermediate People's Court announced the judgment on Thursday in which five defendants, including the ring leader surnamed Yao, were sentenced to life in prison for stealing cultural relics from the Hongshan cultural relic protection region.

The other 25 defendants received sentences ranging from three to 15 years in jail on the same charge, the judgment said.