Japanese national arrested in Bagan

Japanese national arrested in Bagan

By Si Thu Lwin   |   Monday, 01 July 2013

A Japanese national has been arrested at Bagan's Nyaung Oo Airport after airport officials allegedly found antiquities in his baggage when he tried to board a flight for Mandalay on June 24.

The man was charged under section 7(5) of the 1957 Antiques Act by Nyaung Oo township police, the Mandalay Region police force office said. Those found guilty of exporting or attempting to export antiques face a six-month jail term, a fine or both.

The man was allegedly carrying two lower jaw bones and two molars that are all thought to be fossils and a piece of petrified, or fossilised, Shorea robusta.

The man said he had been given them by a boy near Bagan's Ananda Pagoda at about 3pm the previous day, police said.

Seventeen lacquer items, including an antique monk's bowl and a wooden statue about 25 centimetres high, were also discovered in his baggage, police said.

The law defines an antiquity as "any object of archaeological interest" and police said all items found could be considered antiques. The man is being held at Nyaung Oo police station.

Translated by Zar Zar Soe

Source: http://www.news.myanmaronlinecentre.com/2013/07/04/japanese-national-arrested-in-bagan/