site.btaBulgarian Customs to Hand over Some 3,000 Intercepted Antique Coins to Turkiye

Nearly 3,000 antique bronze coins, seized by customs officers at the Kapitan Andreevo border checkpoint during an anti-smuggling operation in 2019, will be handed over to Turkiye, said the Customs Agency territorial directorate in Burgas, said on Monday. The handover will take place at the port city’s customs headquarters on Tuesday.

The 2,940 coins were seized in wake of concluded criminal proceedings and an enforced verdict. The coins were then handed over to the Culture Ministry for safekeeping. 

Archaeological, numismatic and valuation expertise on the case established that they all date from the 3rd-3rd century BC and are a collective find from the ancient city of Amisos (today Samsun, a major port on the north coast of the Black Sea), located on the territory of the Turkiye.

The handover procedure includes the signing of a trilateral memorandum between representatives of the Customs Agency, the Ministry of Culture and Turkish diplomatic representatives. The move comes in implementation of the Agreement between the governments of Bulgaria and Turkiye on the prohibition and prevention of illegal import and export, as well as the transfer of ownership of cultural property.