Smuggler caught selling antiquities for €100,000
An anonymous tip led to the arrest of a 44-year-old antiquities smuggler in Vatondas on the island of Evia on Monday for attempting to sell 38 Hellenistic-era silver coins.
The 44-year-old, of Albanian descent, intended to sell the antiquities to a buyer for nearly 100,000 euros, Kathimerini understands. The coins were part of a “treasure” from an ancient tomb. Among them was a silver Tetradrachm depicting Alexander the Great and Zeus, valued at €5,000. The coins date between 320BC and 280BC, originating from the same archaeological site.
After an investigation, officers found more antiquities hidden in a makeshift shed in Nea Artaki. The antiquities will be evaluated at the New Archaeological Museum of Chalkis “Arethousa.”
Dimitris Christodoulou, director of the Evia Ephorate of Antiquities, stated that the coins must have been preserved in an airtight clay container found inside the tomb, while 22 coins feature Alexander the Great and Zeus. Furthermore, as evident by hair forks and rings found by the police, the smuggler had disturbed a woman’s tomb.
“The tomb predates the coins by half a millennium,” Christodoulou concluded.
