A gold Buddha statue and a few ancient treasures were seized by the Anuradhapura Divisional Crime Investigation Bureau on a tip-off on January 18.
A Buddha statue weighing 1kg, a gold plated Buddha statue, three gold plated ancient containers and three multi coloured conchs were recovered from two suspects in the Rotawewa forest area in Mihintale Mahakanadarawa South-shore region. Police said the suspects had brought them to sell and they fled leaving behind the items when they saw the police team.
The items were wrapped with a red cloth, while the Buddha statues and conchs were kept inside gold plated containers, police said.
The tip off received by police said that a large scale selling operation of cannabis in progress in the Rotawewa area along with the treasure sale racket.
Investigations are continuing.