Turkish security forces seized a variety of historical artifacts in an anti-smuggling operation in central Turkey's Aksaray province Monday.

The anti-smuggling branch of the provincial security directorate launched the operation after it was revealed through investigations that suspects, who had identified themselves as police, were planning to illegally sell the artifacts.

Police stopped and searched three vehicles belonging to the suspects on the highway between Aksaray and neighboring Konya province.

A total of 54 historical artifacts, including a sword, a dagger, a statuette, a glass trinket, a bracelet, rings, and coins were seized during the operation, along with a fake police IDs and two handguns.

Seven suspects were detained in connection to the smuggling incident, while two of them identified as Ramazan B., and Selami Y. were later arrested by court.

Thousands of anti-smuggling operations are carried out across Turkey every year to halt the illegal sale of historical objects and protect the country's rich cultural heritage. The issue is crucial to a country that is home to about 3,000 ancient cities from 42 civilizations and whose tourism industry relies on its rich historical heritage to attract millions of foreign visitors each year.