2 caught with ancient gold wreath, armband

Page last updated at 12:35 GMT, Friday, June 8, 2012 - 17:35 EST

Kansas City Star:

A police officer displays the wreath of gold oak leaves and acorns, and the gold arm band with carved snake heads at the ends...

All photographs come from the aforementioned news sources, and full copyright ownership is maintained by those sources. This site uses the images purely for reference to the original source and educational purposes, and does not profit in any way from their use.

A retired policeman and a house painter have been arrested in northern Greece on suspicion of antiquities smuggling after an ancient gold wreath and armband were found in their car, police said Friday.

The suspects were stopped by highway police near the village of Asprovalta, some 40 kilometers (25 miles) east of Thessaloniki late Thursday. Officers, who were working on a tip that the house painter might be trafficking in antiquities, found the 4th century B.C. artifacts in a shoebox under the passenger seat.

The wreath was a rare and valuable find, said Nikos Dimitriadis, head of the Thessaloniki police antiquities theft section.

"It is a product of an illegal excavation from a Macedonian grave, according to archaeologists (who examined it)," he said.

Read the whole story: Kansas City Star