East Jerusalem antiquity dealers arrested for tax fraud

Israeli police said Sunday they have arrested five antiquities dealers from East Jerusalem for large-scale tax offenses.

They were suspected of failing to report $2 million in earnings.

Police spokesman Luba Samri said luxury cars, some $200,000 in cash and various antiquities were confiscated Sunday in a raid on the suspects’ homes and offices. The antiquities seized included ancient parchment pieces written in Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek and Latin, as well as ancient weapons, sculptures from the Hellenistic and Roman periods, pottery and bronze, silver and gold coins.

Samri said the raid followed a joint investigation with American law enforcement agencies who were informed about Israeli antiquity dealers who had issued fake receipts and invoices over the past seven years.

That led to an undercover operation that exposed the scheme.

The suspects were being brought before a court.