A pro-active operation of the Civil Administration for Judea and Samaria in Bethlehem and the Israel Defense Forces' Archaeological Staff Officer, two residents of the Bethlehem-area Palestinian Authority village of Beit Fajjar were arrested near the Judean Jewish community of Tekoa trying to use a truck to smuggle three church columns from the Byzantine period and an ancient pseudo-Greek capital.
The apparent motive was to sell the items. The Civil Administration's archeology unit launched an investigation to locate the site from which they were looted.