TEHRAN –Iranian police have recently arrested nine unauthorized diggers in Savadkuh county, the northern province of Mazandaran.   

The suspects were traced and finally detained, said Mohammadreza Kordan, a senior police official in charge of protecting cultural heritage, CHTN reported on Sunday.

Some excavation tools and two metal detectors have been seized from the culprits, who were handed over to the judicial system for further investigation, the official added.

An early civilization flourished at the beginning of the first millennium BC in Mazandaran (Tabarestan). 

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 lowland alongside the Caspian and upland along the northern slopes of the Alborz Mountains. Marshy backlands dominate the coastal plain, and extensive gravel fans fringe the mountains. The climate is permanently subtropical and humid, with very hot summers.

ABU/MG