TEHRAN - Iranian police have recently busted a gang of illegal diggers in Robat Karim, Tehran province, a local tourism official has announced. 

Eight illegal excavators, who were trying to get to an old caravanserai through digging underground tunnels from a home nearby, were detained in this regard; ISNA quoted Hamid Karimi as saying on Sunday. 

He also noted that the culprits were surrendered to the judicial system for further investigation.

Robat Karim is home to many historical and cultural monuments due once being placed on the important historical Silk Road.

Iran’s earliest caravanserais were built during the Achaemenid era (550 -330 BC). Centuries later, when Shah Abbas I assumed power from 1588 – to 1629; he ordered the construction of network caravanserais across the country.

Such roadside inns were originally built in various epochs along ancient caravan routes in the Muslim world to shelter people, their goods, and animals. The former Silk Roads may be the most famous example dotted by caravanserais.

For many travelers to Iran, staying in or even visiting a centuries-old caravanserai can be a wide experience as they have an opportunity to feel the past, a time travel back into a forgotten age.

ABU/ AFM