Medal theft is the theft of awards for military action, civil service, and achievements in science or sports. Medals and similar awards are stolen for resale, private collection or ransom; some are destroyed for gold bullion. While not common in developed nations, reported instances have drawn wide press coverage, considering notability and public exposure of the victims of the crime. Thefts by nation Australia In 1985, Olympic medals belonging to swimmer John Konrads were stolen from his home. The medals were recovered in 2009. In 2003, Lauren Burns' Olympic gold medal was stolen. Canada In December 1979, a medal awarded to Milton Fowler Gregg in 1918, the Victoria Cross, was donated to the Royal Canadian Regiment Museum in London, Ontario, but was stolen from the museum shortly afterwards. On January 15, 2009, about 30 valuable medals belonging to a Chilliwack, British Columbia Odd Fellows lodge were stolen. Five of the medals later turned up during a narcotics raid. India In 2004, Rabindranath Tagore's 1913 Nobel prize medal was stolen. In 2016, a local singer accused of sheltering the thieves was arrested, but the medal could not be recovered. Interrogation revealed that a Bangladeshi national, along with two Europeans, were involved in the theft. Two replicas, one in gold and one in silver were later presented to Viswa Bharati University by the Swedish government. In February 2017, Kailash Satyarthi's 2014 Nobel prize medal was stolen. Russian Empire, Soviet Union, Russia, Belarus and Ukraine Peacetime theft of medals prior to 1980s was quite rare. A well known case occurred on the day of the Decembrist revolt, December 14, 1825. Military governor of Saint Petersburg, Count Miloradovich, was fatally wounded by Pyotr Kakhovsky. The dying Miloradovich was taken to a safe place; when a surgeon arrived there, Miloradovich laid stripped of his military decorations. The marauders remained unidentified. A black market in Soviet military artifacts boomed in 1980s. The first publicly known case occurred in 1983: retired admiral Georgy Kholostyakov and his wife were murdered at their home by Gennady and Inna Kalinina, with the sole purpose of obtaining the admiral's medals (which included the Golden Star and Order of the Bath). The prosecution, allegedly supervised by Yuri Andropov, connected Kalinins to another murder and 38 other cases of medal theft. Gennady Kalinin was sentenced to death, Inna Kalinina to 15 years. Violent robberies against veterans remain quite rare: in most cases the