Bulgarian law says that all artefacts found in Bulgaria belong to the state, but thousands of smugglers are illegally exporting archaeological finds abroad.
Once part of ancient Thrace, Bulgaria ranks behind only Italy and Greece for the number of artefacts in the ground in Europe, according to The Daily Telegraph.
Volodya Velkov, the head of the police unit that combats organised crime, said that “tomb raiding” currently brings in about four billion pounds a year for crime rings that concentrate on smuggling.
“Since last October [2006], when we started the new department, we have seized 16 000 artefacts,” he announced.
On August 24 2007, a man was caught smuggling more than a hundred items into Germany in concealed compartments in his vehicle. The artefacts' price amounted to 345 000 pounds.
Some Bulgarians think that the only way to prevent looting is for the Government to licence only private collectors.
Nikolai Ovcharov, a leading archaeologist who recently discovered the ancient altar of Dionysus at Perperikon, said: “the government cannot afford to excavate all the sites itself”.
“They should give out concessions and carry out rigorous checks on what is found. The longer it takes to pass a new law, the more treasures we will lose.”
Bulgarian artefacts are often sold by foreign antique dealers, and on the internet. On August 28 2007, several items from Bulgaria became available on eBay, The Daily Telegraph said.