Two Americans caught in Guatemala with dozens of Mayan artifacts

GUATEMALA CITY: Two Americans have been arrested in Guatemala allegedly with dozens of pre-Hispanic Mayan artifacts, the prosecutor’s office said Monday.

The pair, a man and a woman, were arrested in a car on Sunday with 166 stolen pieces 45 kilometres outside the Guatemalan capital, the office said in a statement.

According to an archaeologist, about 90 per cent of the pieces were authentic, it added, without giving further details on the artifacts’ origins or age.

The detainees – Stephanie Allison Jolluck, 49, and Giorgio Salvador Rossilli, 62 – are residents of the Central American country.

The statement said Jolluck had already been arrested on Friday, allegedly trying to leave Guatemala with two Mayan artifacts. She was released on bail, only to be caught again two days later with Rossilli in an antitrafficking operation.

The Mayan civilisation reached its height between 250 and 900 AD in what is present-day southern Mexico and Guatemala, as well as parts of Belize, El Salvador and Honduras.