GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — On April 4, Palestinian security services in the West Bank were informed that a group of antiquities thieves had carried out illegal excavations in the town of Sarra, in the west of the Nablus governorate. The Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities staff, along with members of the town's Preventive Security Service, immediately headed there.
Inspections by the ministry’s staff at the site revealed that the thieves had discovered a tomb dating back to the Roman Empire in Palestine. The thieves had opened a wide hole in the lid of the coffin found in the tomb and looted many artifacts from the site.
