The Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) announced, Monday, that it teamed up with inspectors from the Nature and Parks Authority and police to capture members of a family in the Negev town of Yeroham who stole ancient coins from an antiquities site near Kibbutz Sde Boker.
The coins were found in a raid on the family's house, along with new, sophisticated metal detectors. A family member confessed under interrogation. An IAA inspector said it was unfortunate that the coins were removed from the site because if they had been found in a proper way, the find would have included important historical information, which has been lost forever and cannot be reconstructed.