Two Dutch travelers were arrested on Lesvos in the eastern Aegean on Wednesday after airport authorities discovered fragments from the island’s protected Petrified Forest in their luggage before a flight to Amsterdam.
Customs inspectors uncovered the fossilized pieces during a baggage screening, determining the items had not been declared and were being transported without the export permits required for protected cultural heritage objects.
According to the director of the Natural History Museum of the Lesvos Petrified Forest, the fossils were identified as belonging to the island’s Petrified Forest, a designated natural monument within the European Union’s Natura 2000 conservation network.
The two passengers were arrested on charges related to the illegal export of cultural heritage items, the state-run Athens-Macedonia News Agency reported on Thursday.
Authorities also confiscated the fossils, along with a tablet, two mobile phones and a camera.
