Last update - 00:00 09/03/2008
Antiques Authority detains man suspected of coin theft
By Jack Khoury, Haaretz Correspondent
A suspect of antique theft was caught in action on Sunday by the Antiques Authority at the archeological site of Tel Hanaton in the Galilee.
The man, a resident of the Tel Aviv area, was using a metal detector to look for antique coins.
The Antiques Authority wardens searched his bag and found a coin that he had pocketed shortly before. He was detained and interrogated by police, where he confessed and was released on bail. The Antiques Authority said the man will be indicted shortly.
Nir Diestfeld of the Antiques Authority's northern division said that Tel Hanaton has archeological artifacts from the Canaanite period to the Crusader period, during which the site served as a crossroads en route from the Fertile Crescent region to Acre.
He said that in the absence of a formally declared excavation, the authority prefers to leave the site untouched.