Police officers of the Cultural Heritage and Antiquities Department of the Thessaloniki Security Directorate spotted a man yesterday afternoon inside a declared archaeological site in Philippi Kavala, exploring the ground, using a metal detector and a shovel with the aim of discovering antiquities.

This is a 39-year-old man, who was found to be in possession of a metal vase handle that he had just retrieved from the ground.

Also, in his own house in a village of Kavala, but also in his father’s house, he owned 11 bronze ancient coins that fall under the protective provisions of the antiquities law, according to the opinion of a competent archaeologist, and 14 objects that need further investigation.

A metal detector, headphones and a digging tool used by the perpetrator were seized and will be sent to the Kavala Criminal Prosecutor’s Office as evidence, while the total of 26 objects found will be handed over to the Kavala Antiquities Ephorate for archaeological, historical and commercial assessment.

The arrested person, with the case file filed against him, will be taken to the competent judicial authority.