Prosecutors of the Alba Iulia (northwest of Bucharest) Court of Appeals have obtained the repatriation without compensations of several lots of ancient coins of Koson and pseudo-Lysimachus coins from Germany, Spain, Poland and Belgium; the coins were smuggled from Romania, a release of the Prosecutors’ Office of the High Court of Cassation and Justice (ICCJ), sent to Agerpres informs.

The judiciary authorities also handed to the National History Museum of Romania, on December 22 and January 8, for expertise, several lots of coins, as follows: two golden Lysimachus and two silver Koson, recently recovered from Germany; three golden Lysimachus recovered from Spain. The coins were part of the stolen Dacian treasure from the site of Sarmizegetusa Regia, the Dacian citadel in central Romania.

‘The repatriation of these coins is the successful completion of two years of work within the framework of international legal cooperation. Two Koson coins from each Poland and Belgium are in the process of repatriation, in accordance with the decision of relevant authorities,’ the release also mentioned.

Between 2007 and 2015, the prosecutors in Alba Iulia have coordinated 15 operations for recovering national cultural heritage goods from archeological treasuries that were smuggled from Romania.

The recovery from France, Switzerland, Germany, Ireland, the United Kingdom, Spain and the United States was possible under international conventions.

‘As a result of these actions, the national cultural heritage was restored by the following cultural goods recovered from abroad or from inside the country: 1,027 golden Koson coins (ca. 8.62 kg); 37 golden Lysimachus type coins minted in the 1st-2nd centuries AD in Tomis and Kallatis; 213 silver Koson coins; 13 royal Dacian golden bracelets (ca. 12.633 kg); two royal Dacian parade iron shields, decorated with animal representations; ca. 12,000 silver and bronze coins,’ the document pointed out.

From 1998 through 2014, groups formed of 34 indicted people – thieves from archaeological sites – have breached the regime of protection of the national heritage by stealing, smuggling, selling and laundering on the black market antiquities of several monetary treasures (Koson and Lysimachus stater coins and Roman denarii), golden spiral bracelets and other artifacts from the archaeological sites of Sarmizegetusa Regia and Piatra Rosie – UNESCO monuments. These goods were lost for the national cultural heritage, with a prejudice of more than 2,500,000 euros.