Iraqi police arrested 17 suspects accused of stealing and smuggling antiquities in Thi Qar province south of Iraq, local Al Sabah newspaper reported on Monday.

"The arrest of the suspects took place after a police raid in the town of Bathaa, 40 km west of Nasiriya, the center of Thi Qar province," a police source was quoted as saying, adding that they would be brought to the special courts.

Thousands of Iraqi antiquity pieces have been lost in robbing, looting and smuggling activities at the ancient and ruin sites since the US-led invasion in March 2003.

The cultural centers in Iraq also became targets, especially the Iraqi Central Museum where numerous of ancient pieces that represented different eras of the history of Mesopotamia were collected.

Source: Xinhua