Turkish police said on Thursday they had rescued thousands of artefacts dating back to Anatolian, Greek and Egyptian civilizations in the largest operation to combat smuggling of ancient treasures in the country’s history.
Artefacts confiscated during the operation [Credit: DHA] |
The 26,456 objects recovered also included Egyptian-origin statues and Phoenician-type teardrop vials.
“The retrieved artefacts are... more valuable than the artefacts in the inventory of an average size museum,” Istanbul police said in a statement.
For three months the investigation, dubbed “Operation Zeus”, tracked the smuggling ring, which aimed to take the artefacts abroad and sell them to museums and collectors for millions of dollars, it said.
Six people involved in the ring were detained on Dec. 12 in Turkey’s northwestern province of Duzce as they attempted to sell off some of their haul. Seven more were detained in four different provinces.
Source: Reuters [December 21, 2017]