Brothers caught ‘red-handed’ plundering northern Israel archaeological site

The Israel Antiquities Authority announces the arrest of two people it says were caught “red-handed” plundering an archaeological site in northern Israel over the weekend.

The IAA says the suspects, brothers from the Arab village of Daburiyya, destroyed underground cavities and artifacts with a backhoe at a site associated with biblical era city of Daberath, including potsherds from the Hellenistic period.

After they were caught by IAA agents Border Police officers, the suspects were brought to a police station in Tiberia, where their remand was extended. A judge ordered yesterday they be released on bail, according to the IAA, which says it will request the backhoe be seized.

“The illegal and brutal excavations at archaeological sites cause terrible destruction of heritage sites, and the study of all of our history is damaged forever,” Nir Distelfeld, the head of IAA’s theft prevention unit, says in a statement.

Distelfeld calls the damage at the site in northern Israel “shocking” and expresses satisfaction that the suspects were arrested and “greater damage was prevented.”