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Further news regarding the stolen antiquities!

The 64 year old businessman which has been accused of antiquities theft, has been in temporary custody, while the 58 year old architect who has also allegedly been involved in the same case is free on bail which sums up to 100.000 Euros.

Yesterday, the two men argued that the 1600 items found in their possession were fake and they were going to sell them to tourists in summer.

The first estimates, however, date the items between 2000 - 3000 B.C. and the sale price is estimated, at about 3.000.000 Euros!

All items that were seized, were demonstrated to the archaeologist of the Documentation Directorate of the Ministry of Culture, who stated that under the protective provisions of N.3028/02 "On Protection of Antiquities and Cultural Heritage in general" the items are extremely valuable .


According to the reports, the 58 year old, allegedly claimed that only 10% of the 1600 items found in their possession belonged to him and that the rest belonged to the 64 year old. The 58 year old, reportedly said that he did not know that the items were genuine ancient artifacts but imitations which would have been sold to tourists as souvenirs!

On the other side, the 64 year old initially said that he knew the items were genuine and that he had brought them to the 58 year old, in order to hide them. But he later stated that the antiquities were fake.

Ongoing investigations.

The case has been described as one of the most important unresolved cases in our country, and there are estimates that there may be more people involved not only in Greece but also from other countries.

All this, however, is under full investigation by the competent prosecuting authorities. 

From research conducted both in the store and in the attic, a total of 1600 items were seized, although the initial assessment was that it was less.
Similar surveys were conducted in the home of two men but no items were recovered. All items have been seized and the two men were arrested by the Police Department in Rhodes.