Greek police have arrested 11 people, dismantling two criminal organizations that looted ancient sites and sold artifacts abroad, including a serving soldier identified as a leader of one group.
About 60 officers from the Northern Greece organized crime unit raided locations in Kozani, Kavala, Xanthi, Drama, Rhodope and Evros.
Ten of those arrested are Greek and one is a foreign national. They face charges of running a criminal organization and violating laws on antiquities and weapons.
Police said both groups had operated since at least September 2025 in the same way.
They used local contacts to find sites, then metal detectors and ground-scanning equipment, and dug with pickaxes, power drills and generators.
One group's leader allegedly appraised finds and sold them to buyers abroad. The other's leader, the soldier, mainly dug in Evros.
A member kept an archive of archaeological sites drawn from old documents and maps.
Members mostly met in person and used code on the phone. A "job" or "jogging" meant a dig. "Exercise equipment" meant detectors.
A "coin" was an ancient coin, "whites" were well-preserved gold and silver ones, and a "miracle" was a find of great value.
Police seized a bronze horse-and-rider group, bronze bell fragments, marble architectural pieces, many coins, 24 metal detectors, geophysical scanners, a drone, three cars, three hunting rifles, an air pistol, €11,130, 875 Turkish lira and three gold sovereigns.
The finds go to the Thessaloniki Antiquities Ephorate. The suspects will appear before prosecutors.
The bust follows a March operation that arrested 23 people in three similar rings.