Smuggled Cultural Property Returned to Bulgaria from Italy

Daniel Nikolova, 'Stolen cultural artifacts returned to Bulgaria', Standart 6th Feb 2014:

A large collection of illegally trafficked historical artifacts has been seized by the Italian police while in the process of being sold, bTV reports. The collection, consisting mostly of coins and statuettes, will be returned to Bulgaria [...] The valuables were seized by Italian law enforcement agencies in cooperation with Bulgaria's State Agency for National Security (DANS). Both the Bulgarian and Italian sides underscored their satisfaction at their good joint work in the interception of trafficked culture and historical artifacts, said Dimitrov. The returned valuables will be presented at a press conference at the National Museum of History in Sofia in the coming days, he added.

Internationally famous cultural property legal specialist Peter Tompa is believed to be on a plane to Sophia at this moment. "There has been a terrible mistake", he told reporters on the tarmac before he boarded the IAPN-chartered private jet, "the Bulgarians have got the law totally wrong. These coins were not "illicit" but are openly sold in Bulgaria, I'm going to sort them out". A welcoming committee of the Bulgarian Brotherhood of Totally Legal Artefact Procurers is believed to be waiting to greet him.