23 August 2002
Two men in Brest region charged with icon theft

 Two men resident in Baranovichi, Brest region, have been charged with stealing 11 valuable icons from the Holy Trinity Church in the Drogichin district in early August, the local police department told BelaPAN.
The two were arrested in a nearby village while looking for a tractor to get their car out of a ditch. Their loot was later found in the forest near the church, and one of the suspects started confessing. The police say that the two men are suspected of 17 thefts. Eleven of them were allegedly committed at various churches in the Minsk, Vitebsk, Grodno and Brest regions in 1995, 1996, 2001 and 2002. Both men have reportedly confessed to the 11 church thefts.