Facing jail, gang who tried to sell stolen £2m Ming vase to undercover police
THREE Britons are facing lengthy jail sentences after trying to sell a stolen Ming Dynasty vase worth £2million to undercover detectives.
The men were caught following a joint operation between the Metropolitan Police and officers from Switzerland.
Authorities had been looking for the vessel since thieves broke in to Geneva’s Museum of Far Eastern Art in 2019 and stole it and other valuable pieces.
Investigators were tipped off by an auction house about an anonymous seller who had come forward in an email. By tracing the origin of the email, police identified the seller as David Lamming, who was living in Lewisham, South London.
But instead of arresting him, the detectives opened an undercover operation on Lamming and his associates. After agreeing a purchase price of £450,000 for the stolen vase, police posed as buyers and met Lamming’s partner Mbaki Nkhwa at a central London hotel.
Nkhwa was arrested at the scene after handing over the 600-year-old artefact, which was returned to the Geneva museum in October 2021.
Lamming and driver Kaine Wright were also arrested.
Due to the pandemic their court cases were only heard this year. Lamming, 31, pleaded guilty in March, and Nkhwa, 47, and Wright, 26, did the same last Friday. They will be sentenced at a later date.
The thieves who broke into the museum also stole two other items – a bowl worth £80,000, which has since been returned, and a ‘doucai style’ wine cup. Police are offering a £10,000 reward for information on the cup.
Detective Chief Inspector Matt Webb said: ‘The organised crime group involved in this believed they could commit offences internationally and that there would be no comeback. They were mistaken.’