Alexander the Great coins seized from smugglers at Israel-Gaza checkpoint

The coins were found when a truck was stopped for a routine inspection when entering Israel from the Gaza Strip.

By World Israel News Staff

Dozens of rare and ancient coins were seized during a routine inspection at the Kerem Shalom Crossing between the Gaza Strip and Israel on Monday, the Ministry of Defense reports. The coins dated from the period of Alexander the Great.

In a tweet, the Ministry of Defense said the coins were “were probably minted 2,300 years ago… Some of the coins were minted in the town of Amphipolis in Northern Greece. These are very rare items of great cultural value.”

הבודקים הביטחוניים של רשות המעברים במעבר כרם שלום סיכלו אתמול (ב’) ניסיון חריג להברחה של עשרות מטבעות עתיקים ונדירים מתקופת אלכסנדר מוקדון, מרצועת עזה לישראל וממנה לשטחי הרשות הפלסטינית. pic.twitter.com/fwwyX6dX1H

— משרד הביטחון (@MoDIsrael) October 8, 2019

The coins were discovered in a truck transporting textile products from the Gaza Strip to Israel. The coins were confiscated and transferred to a government archaeology department.

This isn’t the first times coins have been smuggled from the Gaza Strip. In November, 2018, a Palestinian from Gaza in his 40s was seized with two coins from the Alexander the Great period.

In 2017, a Palestinian man was nabbed trying to enter Israel with four coins also from the Alexander the Great period.

Such coins can be worth thousands of dollars.

archaeologyKerem Shalom CrossingSmuggling