More looting arrests in the West Bank

APPREHENDED: Antiquities thieves nabbed with artifacts from Byzantine-era church. Civil administration says it has opened an investigation after columns from West Bank structure seized from robbers (Times of Israel).

Israeli authorities arrested two antiquities thieves in the West Bank who were attempting to make off with artifacts dating back to the Byzantine era, the IDF’s Civil Administration said on Monday.

A spokesperson for the Defense Ministry agency — which oversees Israeli civilian activity in the West Bank — said that the two Palestinian suspects were arrested between the West Bank city of Bethlehem and the settlement of Tekoa with three columns from a nearby Byzantine church inscribed with pseudo-Greek text in the back of their work truck.

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Smugglers stole columns from a church? Good grief!

Other recent looting arrests in Israel and the West Bank have been noted here and links.

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