TEHRAN –The Iranian police have recently arrested four unauthorized diggers in Rudsar county, the northern province of Gilan.  

The accused people were traced and finally arrested while digging in a historical site after police received reports from cultural heritage aficionados about their misdeeds, a senior police official in charge of protecting cultural heritage said, CHTN reported on Wednesday.

Some excavation tools and a metal detector have been seized from the culprits, who were handed over to the judicial system for further investigation, Mohammad Alipur added.

Gilan is well-known for its rich Iron Age cemeteries such as Marlik that have been excavated over the past century. It was once within the sphere of influence of the successive Achaemenian, Seleucid, Parthian, and Sassanid empires that ruled Iran until the 7th century CE. The subsequent Arab conquest of Iran led to the rise of many local dynasties, and Gilan acquired an independent status that continued until 1567.
    
Sophisticated Rasht, the capital of Gilan province, has long been a weekend escape for residents of Tehran who are looking to sample the famous local cuisine and hoping for some pluvial action – it's the largest, and wettest town in the northern region. Gilan is divided into a coastal plain including the large delta of Sefid Rud and adjacent parts of the Alborz mountain range.

ABU/MG