A young Bulgarian was stopped on the Greece-Turkey border carrying more than 100 ancient coins, police in the northeastern Greek city of Komotini said on Tuesday.
The Bulgarian was stopped at a border crossing in the town of Kastanies on Monday. He was carrying 130 coins from the ancient Greek, Roman and Byzantine eras, which he claimed he had found in the Turkish countryside using special detection equipment, Dimitris Hotzidis, head of customs in Kastanies, told Greek news agency ANA.
The coins have been transferred to archaeological authorities in Komotini. The Bulgarian, whose identity has not been revealed, has been passed on to prosecutors in the nearby city of Orestiada.
According to police in Komotini, theft and trafficking of artefacts has been on the rise in the last couple of months, particularly between Greece and Bulgaria.
The Greek minister of citizens’ protection, Michalis Chryssohoidis, is due to meet his Bulgarian counterpart, Tsvetan Tsvetanov, on Wednesday in Sofia to discuss bilateral cooperation in police affairs.
The two ministers will sign an agreement on cross-border cooperation, according to ANA.
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