[CPProt.net] Bulgaria Busts Band of Church Looters

[MSN CPPnet (Ton Cremers)]

Bulgaria Busts Band of Church Looters
2005-09-27
An organized group that robbed churches and monasteries throughout Bulgaria
was busted late Monday night, officials announced.

During the nocturnal search 37 icons were apprehended at different addresses
in Sofia after coordinated actions by a number of police forces, the
Ministry of Inferior announced. 

The law enforcers picked up the looters' trail when four icons and a church
plate were stolen from a church in Elena Monastery on May 7. The monastery
was declared an archeological and cultural monument in 1995 and was included
in the list of cultural monuments of national significance. 

Three of the icons looted from Elena Monastery were found in the search, and
at an earlier haste in Sofia in July, policemen had uncovered chandeliers,
church plates and other religious items.

Law officers apprehended two of the desecrators and are currently looking
for the third one. The group worked all over Bulgaria and exported some of
the plunder. The foreigners who traded the icons abroad were also
identified. 

The origin and value of the uncovered relics are yet to be determined by
experts.

http://www.novinite.com/