According to new reports, a French treasure hunter has reportedly collected more than 27,000 artifacts – ranging from Bronze Age bracelets to an extremely rare Roman dodecahedron – by looting archaeological sites.
The authorities confiscated the 27,400 objects after years of investigation carried out by French customs, the Belgian authorities and the French Ministry of Culture, Agence France-Presse reported.
He told authorities he had collected the items using metal detectors and his own archaeological knowledge.
But last year, red flags rose when the man, identified only as Patrice T, claimed that he had excavated 14,154 Roman coins in Flanders, the Dutch-speaking northern part of Belgium, according to The Guardian.
He said he was using a metal detector when he happened to come across the relics at two locations near Gingelom, a Flemish town 40 miles east of Brussels. the newspaper reported.
Metal detectors are only allowed for scientific research in France, but can be used in Flanders for personal searches, the report said. So the coins were legally declared as Patrice’s property, the paper reported.
However, Patrice’s story began to unravel when the Belgian Heritage Agency informed French customs that it seemed unlikely that such a large find could turn up at that location, the outlet said.
French officials then raided the man’s house and found the vast stash of items, including Bronze Age and Iron Age bracelets and necklaces, and a hollow copper Roman dodecahedron of which only a hundred known specimens survive.
French customs confirmed that the treasure hunter had actually collected the catch by “looting several locations in France”.
The case was turned over to the judiciary, with possible penalties, including huge fines and imprisonment.
Bruno Le Maire, the French Minister of the Economy, called the finds an ‘archaeological treasure of inestimable value’.
“This is a clear message to those who, for the benefit and selfish pleasure of the few, are robbing us of our common heritage and obliterating entire parts of our history,” Le Maire said in a statement.
With pole wires