Hundreds of artifact thefts per year — Antiquities authority:

Approximately 300 antique thefts occur annually in Israel, Maariv reported Wednesday morning. The rare and historic items are sold at high prices on the black market.

The Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) manages tens of thousands of sites throughout the country, most of which are out in the open with no protection or fences.

According to the report, two-to-three thefts take place every week, most of them carried out by Palestinians, often acting with Israeli Arabs, Bedouins and sometimes with Jews. The sites are staked out, and information is carefully gathered before the actual theft — which usually takes place at night.

Amir Ganor, head of the theft fighting department for the Israel Antiquities Authority, told Maariv that thieves also conduct acts of vandalism, breaking everything they find in their way. When people break artifacts they take away the option of scientific study of those objects and sites, he added. “The damage can’t be measured in financial figures.”

Items stolen from the digs range from shards of pottery to golden coins, all of which are sold on the black market to the highest bidder.

On Monday, Israeli officers arrested five would-be antiquities thieves in a cave at an ancient site between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, near the city of Modi’in. The five were suspected of being involved in other theft incidents at various archaeological sites.