Turkish security forces seize 700-year-old Torah manuscript

Police arrest 4 antique dealers as they try to sell gazelle leather document to plainclothes cops for $1.9 million

By ToI Staff 28 November 2017, 1:19 pm 3

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A Torah manuscript, thought to be at least 700 years old, which was seized by police in southern Turkey, November, 2017. (Youtube screenshot)

Turkish security forces seized a Torah manuscript earlier this month that is thought to be at least 700 years old and that was up for sale for $1.9 million, Tukish media reported.

Police, acting on an tip, reportedly detained four antique dealers after they tried to sell the manuscript to plainclothes detectives in Turkey’s southern Mugla province.

Three of them were released to house arrest and one remained behind bars.

Police have given the manuscript, written on gazelle leather, to Istanbul’s Fethiye Museum for examination.

In 2012, Turkish police arrested four people in the Mediterranean province of Adana for allegedly attempting to sell an ancient Torah scroll they said was nearly 2,000 years old, the private broadcaster NTV reported at the time.

The oldest known complete version of the Torah is the Leningrad Codex, which dates back to the early 11th century CE. Few existing Torah scrolls are older than 500 years.