Bulgaria Brings Home Smuggled Antiquities from Canada

Bulgaria has repatriated 21,000 smuggled coins, jewelry and other rare antiquities from Canada through diplomatic mail to save money, Culture Minister Vezhdi Rashidov said Thursday.

The seizure and return of the illegally imported cultural objects, which cover more than 2,600 years of Bulgarian history and are worth 707,000 Euros ($1 million), was the largest ever in Canada.

"For us it was like an action film to transport these pieces by hand in black suitcases," Rashidov said, after handing over the collection to the national museum.

The 15-member team bringing them back "took minimum risk, never leaving VIP areas in airports", he said.

The total cost of the operation was 20,000 Euros while insurance and contracted transport could be as high as 300,000 Euros, the minister said.

In 2007, Canada Border Services Agency officials detained two imports of cultural property sent by mail from Bulgaria, and referred them for assessment to the Canadian heritage department, which called in the Royal Canadian Mounted Police to investigate.

The importer formally abandoned the items in January, clearing the way for a Canadian court to order their repatriation to Bulgaria.

The collection represents a mix of Hellenistic, Roman, Macedonian, Byzantine, Bulgarian and Ottoman cultural heritage, and includes more than 18,000 coins, bronze eagles, rings, pendants, belt buckles, arrows, spearheads and bone sewing needles.