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Turkish police have seized a 2,000-year-old marble head of Zeus and recovered a stolen Japanese Peace Bell during separate operations in the western province of İzmir and the northwestern province of Yalova.
In İzmir, police teams specializing in anti-smuggling and intelligence operations raided an address in the Konak district. They seized the marble sculpture head, which is believed to date from the Roman period, and detained three suspects in connection with the incident.
In a separate case in Yalova, police recovered the 37-year-old Japanese Peace Bell that symbolizes the friendship and sister-city ties between the city and Japan’s Tonami city.
The 87-kilogram bell was stolen from a park on Sept. 14. Police identified the suspects by examining footage from the city’s surveillance camera system.
According to the investigation, three suspects used metal-cutting shears to remove the bell’s handle before loading it onto a three-wheeled electric bicycle and fleeing the scene. The bell was sold to a scrap dealer for 26,000 Turkish Liras (about $525) roughly a week after the theft.
Two suspects were arrested on Oct. 19 and subsequently jailed pending further proceedings, while efforts to apprehend the third suspect continue, the Yalova Governor’s Office said. Three scrap dealers who purchased the bell also face legal proceedings on suspicion of buying or accepting stolen property.
The recovered bell has been handed over to the Yalova Municipality’s Parks and Gardens Directorate for public display.
