Three men arrested by Greek police for antiquities theft

Greek police arrested three men last Sunday while they were illegally digging for antiquities, authorities said.

The three men were described by Hellenic Police in a news release as two Greek nationals, aged 63 and 30, and a 60-year-old foreign national. They were hit with charges related to organized crime, violating protections for antiquities and cultural heritage, as well as weapons violations.

In the early morning hours of February 23, the three men allegedly went to a rural area within a declared archaeological site, near a settlement in Thessaloniki, and were caught “systematically conducting illegal archaeological research and illegal excavations.”

The men were accused of using a four-wheel drive vehicle to reach inaccessible areas.

During searches carried out at the site, at the homes of the suspects and during body searches, police found and confiscated items including a shovel, pickaxe, two crowbars, a hunting rifle and knife, and other items.

Investigators said the suspects formed a criminal group to carry out systematic illegal archaeological research both inside and outside declared archaeological sites.

The 63-year-old and the 30-year-old were allegedly responsible for finding areas of archaeological interest, while the 63-year-old determined when to carry out the illegal excavations based on his specialist knowledge and improvised underground detection equipment.

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