TEHRAN – Iranian police have recently arrested four illegal excavators and antique smugglers in Sarakhs, northeastern Khorasan Razavi province, a senior police official in charge of protecting cultural heritage has announced.

The accused people were traced and finally arrested after police received reports from cultural heritage aficionados about their misdeeds, Mohammad-Ali Modir said on Wednesday. 

The culprits were handed over to the judicial system for further investigation, the official added. 

The provincial capital of Mashhad attracts hundreds of pilgrims each day from various Iranian cities, neighboring countries, and even across the globe; the raison d’être is the striking massive shrine complex of Imam Reza (AS), the eighth Shia Imam.

Dozens of five-star hotels and hostels are dotted across Mashhad. The city has also the highest concentration of water parks in the country, and it also embraces a variety of cultural and historical sites that are generally crowded. The metropolis is also a good place to buy top handwoven rugs and carpets, and it’s a staging post for travel to Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, and little-touristic Khorasan regions.

ABU/MG