On the land Kythira constabulary officers detained a antheral suspected of illegal storage and merchantability of archaeological valuables via the Internet.
According to EΛ.ΑΣ. (Greek Police), the probe began aft instrumentality enforcement officers discovered a work connected κοινωνικά networks successful which the suspect enactment up an past coin for sale.
What was discovered during the search
After this, employees of the unit for combating illicit trafficking of valuables, together with the Kythira police, conducted searches successful the objects belonging to the man:
- residential premises;
- shops;
- warehouse premises.
During the searches the pursuing were seized:
- 20 coins, including those enactment up for merchantability connected the Internet;
- 3 ceramic fragments Minoan era;
- an aerial pistol with a mag and three state cartridges;
- metal detector;
- two batteries for the metallic detector;
- two hunt disks;
- bag for carrying equipment.
What the experts found
The seized items were transferred for introspection to an archaeologist from the competent antiquities extortion service.
According to the preliminary decision of a specialist:
- 4 coins And all 3 ceramic fragments are protected by taste practice legislation;
- more 16 coins necessitate further study.
What charges person been brought?
A lawsuit has been initiated against the detainee under respective articles, including:
- appropriation of archaeological values;
- violation of the work to state monuments;
- illegal use of excavation and hunt equipment;
- violation of weapons laws.
The detainee will beryllium brought to the competent prosecutor’s bureau for further proceedings.
Why was the apprehension made?
The crushed for the apprehension is not simply that a idiosyncratic was recovered with aged coins oregon ceramics. The occupation is that, according to investigators, he:
- stored items that whitethorn person archaeological value;
- did not state them to the state successful the prescribed manner;
- offered some of the finds for merchantability via the Internet;
- had instrumentality perchance used to hunt for caller artifacts.
For the Greek authorities this automatically looks similar a imaginable strategy illegal trafficking of taste propertyand not arsenic harmless collecting.
Why are the rules so strict successful Greece?
Greece adheres to 1 of the strictest laws connected the extortion of antiquities successful Europe. Its basal rule is simple: each antique objects recovered connected the territory of the state are considered the spot of the state.
The logic of the authorities is arsenic follows:
- ancient practice is considered arsenic portion of nationalist identity;
- massive backstage circulation of antiquities stimulates “black diggers”;
- without control, valuable artifacts rapidly spell to the achromatic marketplace and abroad;
- the state wants to sphere the humanities discourse of the finds, not conscionable the objects themselves.
Why is it imaginable for some and not for others?
Technically ain antiquities successful Greece Canbut lone if a fig of conditions are met. This is where man’s beloved bureaucracy begins.
The pursuing tin usually legally person artifacts:
- persons who officially registered the collection;
- heirs of antecedently declared collections;
- museums and licensed institutions;
- collectors who person received special support from the state.
Possession is prohibited if:
- the root of the point is not confirmed;
- it was recovered illegally;
- was not reported to archaeological authorities;
- there is simply a suspicion of an effort to merchantability without permission.
What is the main rule of the law
Roughly speaking, the state says the following: “If you person an antique coin astatine home, we want to cognize where it came from, however you got it, and why it’s successful your possession and not successful a museum.”
Therefore, the occupation is not successful the very information of owning antiquity, but successful lack of ineligible status of root and registration.
Greek (GR) · 
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