Man stopped at Lesvos airport with petrified forest fragments in bags

Police at Lesvos' airport on Tuesday detained a 57-year-old man after finding multiple fragments of a petrified forest in the island's west in his luggage.

Officers found five chunks and 15 fragments of fossilized wood in the man's possession. He now faces charges of violating the national customs code and forestry laws, and theft.

The 57-year-old is the third visitor to Lesvos this summer to attempt to steal fragments of the 18-million-year-old petrified forest.

The stolen pieces were handed over to the Natural History Museum of the Lesvos Petrified Forest, which oversees and maintains the site.