TEHRAN – Three men, part of a gang of illegal excavators, were detained early on Monday while doing some drilling in a rural house in northern Iran.

A metal detector and some ancient relics were seized from the culprits who were handed over to the judicial system for further investigation, IRNA reported on Monday.

The police forces traced the excavators following reports by local people in Baladeh district of Nur county, Mazandaran province, the report said.

Soaked in a vibrant history, Mazandaran (also known as Tabarestan) was a cradle of civilization since the beginning of the first millennium BC. According to Britannica Encyclopedia, it was almost overrun in about 720 CE by the Arab raiders.

Its insecure eastern and southeastern borders were crossed by Mongol invaders in the 13th and 14th centuries. Cossacks attacked the region in 1668 but were repulsed. It was ceded to the Russian Empire by a treaty in 1723, but the Russians were never secure in their occupation. The area was restored to Iran under the Qajar dynasty. The northern section of the region consists of a lowland alongside the Caspian and an upland along the northern slopes of the Alborz Mountains.

AFM/