An ornate Hebrew manuscript with inscribed in gold on a python skin was seized by authorities in Turkey’s southern province of Gaziantep, Turkey Today reported on Sunday, citing the Gaziantep Provincial Governorate.

The manuscript is approximately two meters long and was found, rolled up into a scroll, inside a copper case with an embossed lid, according to the outlet. In addition to the gold script, the image of a peacock is inscribed in the center of the script.

Per Turkey Today, a foreign national, identified only as A.E., suspected of attempting to sell the manuscript on the black market, was detained by local units of Turkey’s Gendarmerie General Command.

A.E. is also reportedly suspected of conducting illegal excavations, which, the outlet noted, is a common problem across Turkey.

Currently, no further suspects have been named and A.E. will remain in gendarmerie custody for further questioning and investigation, Turkey Today reported.

“Turkey is the cradle of many civilizations,” rich in historical monuments, antiques and ruins,” the Turkish Foreign Ministry writes on its website, noting that as such, smuggling historical and archaeological artifacts is a punishable offense. 

In recent years, Turkish authorties have intensified its efforts to prevent artifact smuggling, conducting sting operations “targeting fraudsters who pose as antiquities dealers to lure buyers,” Turkey Today explained.

The presence of Jews in Turkey can be traced back to the fourth century BCE, spanning roughly 2,400 years.

Evidence of Jewish settlements have been found in the ruins of ancient cities across Anatolia (the Asian portion of modern fay Turkey), including in Sardis, Phocaea, and Smyrna.

In 1962, the ruins of an ancient synagogue was discovered in Sardis, dating to 220 BCE.

The 1st-century Jewish-Roman historian Josephus, however, documented even earlier Jewish communities in Turkey, citing records confirming the presence of Jews in Lydia and Phrygia by the late 3rd century BCE, when Antiochus III transported 2,000 Jewish families from Babylon to Phrygia.