[CPProt.net] Construction workers held for antiquities theft

[MSN and CPProt list (Ton Cremers)]

Construction workers held for antiquities theft
By ETGAR LEFKOVITS
       
 
Eight Palestinian construction workers illegally employed at a building site
in Modi'in were under
arrest for carrying out antiquities theft at a nearby archaeological site,
Israel's Antiquities Authority announced Tuesday. 

The eight suspects were caught "red-handed" just after midnight Tuesday
morning after a chase through a second temple period underground compound at
the site, the head of the Antiquities Authority's anti-theft division Amir
Ganor said. 

Two of the eight men apprehended in the overnight raid were previously
convicted of antiquities theft and had served past prison terms, while a
third is facing trial for similar charges, he added. 

The eight suspects, who live in nearby Arab villages just across the Green
Line, were seized following a week-long search for antiquities thieves in
the area. 

The eight men were caught with metal detectors and
a variety of excavation tools in an underground
compound beneath a Byzantine Church at the site that dates back to the Bar
Kochba period, Israel's toparchaeological body said. 

The blue-collar laborers told police investigators
that they were at the underground compound "looking for a place to sleep for
the night" since they were afraid of being picked up by the border police
for being in Israel withot a work permit, Ganor said. 

The suspects were to be remanded Tuesday in a
Jerusalem court. 

The Arab construction workers arrested were illegally employed by a Jewish
building contractor for a housing project in Modi'in about 2 km away from
the archaeological site. 

Officials from the Antiquities Authority had set up an 'antiquities
anti-theft ambush' at the site, located near the Israeli community of
Macabbim-Reut, after discovering that "irreversible damage" had been caused
to the history-rich site over the last few weeks.
Among the items stolen from the compound included ancient coins and candles.


Antiquities theft in the Modi'in area has significantly risen over the last
several months as a result of the employment of hundreds of illegal
Palestinian construction workers in the city, Ganor said. 

About 300 archeology thefts are detected each year in Israel, with the
illicit antiquities trade on the black market in the country estimated to be
running in the millions of dollars a year. 

Despite the overall drop in violence in Israel, the number of antiquities
theft has risen more than 50 percent in the last year alone. 

In 2004 there were 314 reported cases of antiquities theft, compared to less
than 200 in 2003. 

The phenomenon of antiquities theft has taken on gold rush dimensions, with
an antiquities site now plundered every day on average.
 


 
http://www.jpost.com/