TEHRAN – Some 20 historical objects have recently been confiscated from three smugglers in Kuhdasht, western Lorestan province, a senior police official in charge of protecting cultural heritage said on Friday, CHTN reported.

Including a decorative box, statue base, tray, and a few coins, the relics which had been embedded inside a car, were discovered during a routine inspection, Mohammadreza Moradian announced.

The official, however, did not refer to the exact age of the relics. The culprits were detained and surrendered to the judicial system for further investigation, he noted.

Lorestan was inhabited by Iranian Indo-European peoples, including the Medes, c. 1000 BC. Cimmerians and Scythians intermittently ruled the region from about 700 to 625 BC. The Luristan Bronzes noted for their eclectic array of Assyrian, Babylonian, and Iranian artistic motifs, date from this turbulent period. Lorestan was incorporated into the growing Achaemenid Empire in about 540 BC and successively was part of the Seleucid, Parthian, and Sasanid dynasties.

ABU/AFM