The security authorities in Marib thwarted on Tuesday a smuggling attempt of rare artifacts and arrested the smugglers ring that habitually purchases such pieces from the coupist Houthi militia and smuggle them out of Yemen to sell them. In one of the checkpoints outside Marib's provincial capital, security men seized statues made of gold and of precious stones with old Sabayan-era scripts on them. Police Director General Brig.Abdulmalik Al-Madani told Saba that this operation was carried out after the investigation and follow-up of this ring for more than a month and they were caught at one checkpoint while trying to smuggle these statues from the province of Dhamar to the Yemeni ports to sell them to a merchant from a brotherly country. He said that the defendants confessed during the interrogations that they are selling the rare relics and gold bullions on the Houthi militia's behalf to people from Arab and other countries through.