SHIRAZ The police in Marvdasht region of this southern province have discovered and confiscated five gold and bronze statues from a team of smugglers who intended to smuggle the antiques out of the country, it was announced here Monday.

The antiques included two 24-carat gold ibex and ram statues and three bronze statues of bison, elk and wild cat, IRNA reported.

The gold ibex is 3.5x4.5cm in size and the ram is 4.5x4.5cm, belonging to the Islamic era.

The bronze statues measure 7x5, 5x10.5 and 12x12cm.

The smugglers had brought the statues to the town of Dashtestan in Bushehr Province and intended to smuggle them out of the country. The smugglers were arrested and handed over to the Judiciary, the report added.

Meanwhile, the Law Enforcement Forces in Bushehr recently confiscated five statues stolen from the historical Persepolis site, capital of ancient Persia's Achaemenian dynasty in Fars Province.

The objects included two golden and three silver deer statues belonging to the Persepolis that were discovered in the house of a resident of Dashtestan. The owner of the house was also arrested by the forces.

The ruins of Persepolis lie about 640km (400 miles ) south of the capital Tehran.