"Dig & Release": Fake City Workers Digging in Downtown Isparta Were Treasure Hunters

türkçe links to original Turkish article

(Hürriyet Newspaper, 21 November 2024)

          They claimed to have a secret treasure map.

The night before last at about nine-thirty, four "municipal workers"

wearing orange work vests began to dig on the sidewalk with a 

back-hoe in the center of Isparta city.  The four told onlookers that

they were city employees.  Shortly thereafter, though, their digging

caused damage to the underground electric and natural gas lines,

prompting the aforesaid onlookers to inform the authorities. 

Quickly, city officials and utilities personnel arrived at the scene

and determined that the four "municipal workers" were, in fact,

treasure hunters (!).  Three of them were apprehended at the scene

and the fourth was spotted by acting police chief Volkan Güneş,

who got out of his car and nabbed the suspect. 

After giving statements to the police, İsmail Avcı, Halis Tümen

Yaşar Güzel, Hacı Duran Cırdı and a fifth suspect, Şükrü Canıtez,

were arrested for "illegal trafficking in historical works" and 

"damage to public property".  The suspect refuted the charge 

about "treasure hunting" and "explained" that they were merely

doing some work on a construction project in the region (!).