TEHRAN – Iranian police have discovered an ancient silver bowl from the house of an authorized antique dealer in Semnan province.

The object, which is estimated to date 1000 years, was skillfully embedded in the house, IRNA quoted the provincial police commander Abdollah Hassani as saying on Saturday.

After days of intelligence operations, the illegal dealer was traced and arrested after police received reports from cultural heritage aficionados about his misdeeds, the report said.

Semnan is well placed to give swift access to both the Alborz Mountains and the vast Dasht-e Kavir desert, while still being an easy some 200km drive by expressway from Tehran. Since Sassanian times it has been a key stop on the Silk Road, attracting wealth and regular destruction in equal measure.

AFM