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Yesterday, Greek customs officers stopped a young Bulgarian at the border crossing in the town of Kastanies on theGreece-Turkey border, and he was found to be in possession of 130 ancient coins, police in the north-eastern Greek city of Komotinia announced. The coins have been deposited with the archaeological authorities in Komotini, while the Bulgarian has been handed over to prosecutors in the nearby city of Orestiada. The man's identity has not been revealed. Dimitris Hotzidis, head of customs in Kastanies, told Greek news agency ANA that the man stated that he had found the coins dating to the ancient Greek, Roman and Byzantine eras detecting "in the Turkish countryside". According to police in Komotini ... theft and trafficking of archaeological artefacts has been on the rise in the last couple of months, particularly between Greece and Bulgaria. Presumably the stocks of coins in the soil of Bulgaria has been so reduced by a decade of exploitation to feed the illegal export market that suppliers of the Bulgarian market are now having to look to neighbouring countries for material.
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