British dad facing three years in Turkish prison after finding a few old coins while snorkelling
Ambulance driver Toby Robyns, 52, was arrested at an airport in Turkey as he and his wife and two young sons flew home from a fortnight-long break
A BRITISH dad is in a hellhole Turkish jail over a few coins he found snorkelling on holiday.
Toby Robyns, 52, was arrested in front of his horrified family as they prepared to fly home.
Airport staff in Bodrum said the coins were historical artefacts.
A friend of ambulance driver Toby, of Southwick, West Sussex, said: "His family are distraught".
The father of five has been held on suspicion of “finding Turkish artefacts without notifying authorities”.
His alleged offence carries a three-year jail sentence.
Family pal James Stoneham, said: “They are accusing him of taking Turkish artefacts which he was obviously unaware of.
“It was a huge shock for everybody. This was harmless fun on a holiday you’ve enjoyed — and now he has been put in prison.
“He’s going to have to be held for possibly a month.”
Ambulance driver Toby found 13 old coins and decided to take them home as a souvenir of his fortnight-long break in Turgutreis.
But security staff at Bodrum airport who found them in his hand luggage deemed them historical treasures.
James, 47, added: “He found a number of coins among the rocks and sand.
“When he went to get his flight home they dragged him off and searched his hand luggage.”
Toby, of Southwick, near Brighton, West Sussex, was arrested in front of his family.
"He was taken to a police station and hauled before a court the following day.
His distraught wife Heidi, 43, a doctor’s receptionist, and their two sons aged nine and seven, have since flown home.
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Toby has been remanded in custody until a decision is made whether to charge him.
It could take four to six weeks as parts of Turkey have a judicial holiday this month.
It is understood that Toby is being held at a small white-bricked compound called Milas Prison, which holds about 70 inmates.
Guards are stationed at the front gate and on the roof of the detention centre.
There are said to be up to 25 shipwrecks from the 4th to 16th centuries around Yassi Ada island — just four miles from where Toby’s found the coins.
Locals believe a 5.3 magnitude earthquake which struck Bodrum two weeks ago may have shifted the coins closer to the shore.
A family member, who asked not to be named, added: “Toby is always snorkelling. It’s his hobby.
“He’s definitely not a smuggler and that’s what I think they are trying to say.
“They are making a mountain out of a molehill.
“I don’t know what they thought he would do.
“It was stupid of him. I thought he would get a slap on his wrists, they would confiscate the coins and send him on his way.”
A Foreign Office spokesman said: “We are assisting a British man following his arrest in Bodrum, and remain in contact with his family and the Turkish authorities.”
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STRICT RELICS RULES
PEOPLE suspected of trying to illegally take items out of Turkey face severe charges.
Brit Paul Cleasby was accused of smuggling a 15kg lump of marble when he was stopped at Antalya airport.
The middle-aged businessman, from Windermere, Cumbria, faced a decade in jail.
He had to spend 11 weeks in a Turkish prison cell with 16 other inmates in 2004 before he was released in time for Christmas.
Syrian Salwa Jerbakah, 36, was found to have 173 antique coins in her suitcase at Istanbul airport.
She faced smuggling charges and up to 12 years behind bars in 2015.
But she was released and returned to Sweden. The coins were seized.
In May, seven suspects were accused of trying to smuggle a stolen 1,500-year-old statue in Ayvalık.