Abu Dhabi: The Abu Dhabi Police have recovered 33 antique coins which were dug up and removed from an island on the border of the emirate 20 years ago.
The ancient pieces date back to various historical eras and were excavated by an unlicensed digger on the Halat Al Bahrani island, which is located three kilometres from Abu Dhabi.
The island has a variety of marine life including a number of sea cows, coral reefs and marine plants.
The 33 metal coins, of several sizes, were minted during various eras in a number of the UAE's emirates.
Some of the coins date back to Roman times, but some do not indicate a location or date.
Stolen
Colonel Hammad Ahmad Al Hammadi, Head of the Abu Dhabi Police Criminal Investigation Department, said that the antique coins were in the possession of a Syrian investor, identified as A.J.Y, aged 69, for as long as 20 years.
They were given to him by a Syrian-Swedish national illegally for safekeeping.
The Syrian-Swedish national had found them during his work on the island.
Colonel Al Hammadi said the department received a notification from the Abu Dhabi Heritage and Culture Authority, saying that the UAE's embassy in Stockholm was told about criminal investigations into a number of rare antique artifacts that belong to Abu Dhabi. The source said that the coins were important antiquities that must be returned.
Valuable package
Colonel Dr Rashid Mohammad Bu Rasheed, Head of the Abu Dhabi Police's Organised Crime Department, said they found the coins when the Syrian-Swedish national said he had lost a valuable package which he had left with an investor while working on the Halat Al Bahrani island 20 years ago.
Colonel Dr Bu Rusheed added that a task force was put together immediately and the investor was held.
The suspect confessed that he had the antique coins and a collection of seashells in his possession.
He also said that the plaintive was his childhood friend and that he had given him the plastic bag 20 years ago.
The Syrian investor said that his friend had not told him where the bag's contents were finally discovered.
Eight years ago, an argument took place between the two friends, and as a result they did not communicate and the plastic bag was not returned to the Syrian-Swedish national.
The police referred the case to the public prosecution and legal procedures are being taken regarding the coins.
Colonel Dr Bu Rusheed called on community members to be quick to report any breach of law that may come to their attention.
