Anti-smuggling police seized a 2,000-year-old tombstone belonging to an ancient Armenian king in Turkey's northwestern Balıkesir province on Tuesday, April 2, Daily Sabah reports.

Acting upon a tipoff, security forces tracked two cars passing through Edremit town headed toward western Çanakkale province. After searching the cars, police found and confiscated a tombstone reading "the final resting place of the Commagene Kingdom's leader Antiachus" in Ancient Roman script. The smugglers were planning to sell the invaluable artifact for TL 2 million ($281,000), reports said.

Four suspects were detained during the operation and police launched an extensive investigation into the incident.

Kingdom of Commagene, a Hellenistic era state located in what today is Turkey, existed from 163 B.C. to 72 A.D. The famous Mount Nemrut that contains Commagene Kings' statues is inscribed on the UNESCO List of World Heritage.