Americans caught in Guatemala for stealing Mayan artefacts
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Two Americans have been arrested in Guatemala allegedly with dozens of pre-Hispanic Mayan artefacts, 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 kilometers (28 miles) outside the Guatemalan capital, the office said in a statement.
According to an archaeologist, about 90 percent of the pieces were authentic, it added, without giving further details on the artefacts' 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 artefacts. She was released on bail, only to be caught again two days later with Rossilli in an anti-trafficking operation.
The Mayan civilization 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.