Ankara police recovered a sixth-century statue depicting a priest during an inspection, according to Hurriyet Daily News. The 1,500-year-old, 70-centimeter-tall statue was found during a search of a vehicle carrying three individuals.
The suspects in the vehicle—identified as Mustafa Küçük, 45, Hasan Kafaoğlu, 46, and Mustafa Kara, 48—were detained and later brought to the courthouse, as reported by Yeni Akit. They were arrested on charges related to cultural heritage smuggling, according to Haberler. After their statements were taken, the suspects were arrested and sent to prison.
In their preliminary statements before the court, the suspects denied involvement in illicit antiquities trafficking, Hurriyet Daily News reported.
Küçük recounted that a friend offered him the statue as a wedding gift for his son. “My friend, Nuh, asked for no compensation and told me I could either sell the statue or hand it over to a museum if unable to find a buyer,” he explained, according to Hurriyet Daily News. “I accepted his proposition. However, upon conducting online research, I discovered that the statue was an ancient artifact that had been reported stolen,” he said. “I approached a few acquaintances involved in treasure hunting to explore its sale, but they informed me it would not be possible. Thus, I decided to surrender it to the Ankara Museum.”
During the police checkpoint, the statue was not covered or hidden, according to Sozcu. An investigation initiated by the prosecutor’s office regarding the incident is ongoing, Halk TV reported.
The statue had been stolen in 2017 from the garden of the Yalvaç Museum Directorate in Isparta, Hurriyet Daily News reported. The same artifact was previously seized on December 31, 2010, when authorities intercepted four individuals from Nevşehir attempting to sell it as an illicit antiquity in Isparta. The statue was seized when security teams stopped four individuals near Eğirler village while coming from Nevşehir to Yalvaç to sell historical artifacts, according to Sozcu.
The article was written with the assistance of a news analysis system.
This article was originally published at www.jpost.com
