Thousands of archaeological finds seized during a special operation (photos)

Thousands of movable cultural valuables were seized by the General Directorate for Combating Organised Crime (GDCOC) during a specialized police operation carried out on March 19 in the regions of Kyustendil and Blagoevgrad, the police reported on March 20.

Among the seized items are over 1,200 coins, a stone tablet, fragments of marble frescoes from the Roman era, ceramic vessels, rings, metal fibulae, pipes, ritual figures, and other objects showing signs of archaeological findings.

The operation aimed to disrupt the activities of an organized criminal group involved in treasure hunting and expropriation of archaeological sites. The operation was conducted under the supervision of the Kyustendil District Prosecutor's Office as part of a pretrial iproceedings for a criminal offense.

As part of the investigation, searches were conducted at several addresses and motor vehicles in the towns of Dupnitsa, Bobov Dol, Blagoevgrad, and in the village of Bistritsa, Blagoevgrad district.

In addition to the discovered artifacts, foreign currency worth over 200,000 BGN, metal detectors, and mobile phones were also found.

An archaeological examination of the seized items will be conducted as part of the case.