A man has been arrested or organizing illegal archeological digs and selling the finds on the internet.

Police in the north-western town of Szczecin have detained a 31-year-old on the Baltic Coast, charged with selling artifacts found on illegal archeological digs.

The man faces up to 5 years in prison.

Police were alerted to the scam when a resident of the town of Międzyzdroje was offering a medieval seal stamp and a few iron fittings from the early Middle Ages on an internet auction site.

The 31 year-old suspect admitted to illegally organising the dig, and the items put up for sale have been passed on to the Polish Academy of Sciences, as well as the National Museum in Szczecin.

Experts say the items are rare and precious archeological objects.

One of the most interesting specimens is a coin dating from the turn of the 10th and 11th centuries, identified as a Denar of Prince Bernard the First, unique for the western Pomeranian region. (jb/pg)