YEREVAN (Itar-Tass)Armenian customs officials have returned valuables stolen by an Armenian criminal from the Russian Orthodox Church–to its rightful owners.
Head of the Armenian customs department–Levon Khanoyan–said that a resident from the Privolnoye settlement in northern Armenia tried to smuggle two church books–a cross–and other church valuables from the republic on April 13–1994.
The stolen items were confiscated on the Armenian-Georgian border and kept for several years at the customs storage facilities. Recently–Levon Ter-Petrosyan requested that customs return the valuables to the Russian Orthodox Church. The items were handed over to the head of the Yerevan cathedral– Father Vladimir.
The priest thanked the Armenian leaders and customs officials and said that this move testified to the inviolability of the Orthodox tradition in Armenia.