The Algemeiner reports: JNS.org — Inspectors from the Israel Antiquities Authority and Israeli Border Police apprehended a band of 11 antiquities thieves this week who they caught in the act of digging into a hidden cave located in what was once a Jewish village in the Lower Galilee region.
The ring of thieves — the largest ever apprehended in Israel’s north — was caught seriously damaging the cave in the ancient, Roman-era city of Maskana by members of the Antiquities Robbery Prevention Unit, border patrol officers and volunteers.
“The Maskana community is mentioned in the Jerusalem Talmud as a Jewish village located halfway between [the ancient northern city of] Sepphoris and Tiberias,” said Nir Distelfeld, a member of the Antiquities Robbery Prevention Unit.
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