Two human bone traffickers arrested in Greece

There's a crisis everywhere, especially in Greece. Some are therefore resorting to questionable methods to make money, such as stealing human bones and selling them as the skeletons of Orthodox saints. A 42-year-old Swiss national and a deacon from the Greek Orthodox Church were arrested on Saturday in the north of the country, according to a police source in Thessaloniki. The Swiss man, Stephan Meyer, an electronics technician from Zurich, was arrested during a security check at Thessaloniki airport as he was about to leave for Germany. He was carrying 197 human bones and three skulls in his luggage, which attracted the attention of the police. He was to deliver his valuable cargo to a representative of the Russian Orthodox Church in Germany, claiming that the bones came from the skeletons of Orthodox saints.
His accomplice, a 24-year-old deacon from the bishopric of Sidirokastrou, near the Bulgarian border, was also arrested. A search of his home led police to discover 505 bones, 15 skulls, icons, and Byzantine coins. The cleaned bones bore labels with the names of various Orthodox saints.
The two men were taken into custody in Thessaloniki and will be brought before the city prosecutor's office for theft, trafficking and desecration.

Source:20minutes.fr/May 24, 2010