Large number of archaeological antiquities intended for smuggling, confiscated

NAJAF / IraqiNews.com – Fifty-eight archaeological antiquities have been confiscated by Iraqi police forces, while en-route to be smuggled out of Iraq’s Muslim holy city of Najaf, a security source said on Wednesday. “58 archaeological pieces have been confiscated from a man tried to smuggle them abroad from the city Najaf,” the security source said, adding that the value of the antiquities is estimated in the millions of Iraqi dinars. He stressed that the said archaeological antiquities were returned to Najaf Archeological Directorate, whilst the smuggler was arrested by the city’s police. The Islamic holy city of Najaf is 160 km to the south of Baghdad. SKH (P)/SR 30