TEHRAN -- Sebastian Zavala, the former counsel of the Argentine Embassy in Tehran, has been accused of trying to smuggle thousands of Iranian artifacts out of the country.

Zavala had left Iran in June at the end of his seven-and-a-half-year mission and his possessions were scheduled to be shipped at a later date.
Antiquities were found among his personal belongings in the shipment consisting of 318 boxes marked “invaluable heritage items,” the AFP news agency quoted the Iranian Intelligence Ministry as saying.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hassan Qashqavi said that the official at the customs house in southern Tehran became suspicious of the large quantity of boxes in the diplomat’s shipment. In accordance with the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, the customs officials opened some of the luggage and found a number of priceless artifacts packed inside.
They included old weapons, thousands of gold and silver coins from various periods, hand-written religious and historical books, paintings, pottery, and tiles, Qashqavi stated.
Iran’s Cultural Heritage, Tourism, and Handicrafts Organization (CHTHO) and Iran’s Customs House are currently completing their investigation and the results will be announced in the near future.
Iran and Argentina have had strained relations for a number of years.
Iranian officials also discovered that a South Korean diplomat was attempting to smuggle an artifact from Persepolis in early 2009.
A stone fragment of a bas-relief from Persepolis was found in the possession of the South Korean Embassy’s third secretary at Shiraz Airport on February 14, 2009.
The artifact had been hidden in the South Korean diplomat’s baby carriage. The official, who was traveling with his wife and three children, was not detained due to his diplomatic immunity.
Weighing about two kilograms, the artifact is a fragment from a bas-relief depicting the hair of an Achaemenid soldier.