A German man is facing up to 10 years in a Turkish prison because his nine-year-old son picked up pebbles from a beach.

　　The 34-year-old financial advisor, from Muenster, named only as Stefan G, was arrested at Antalya airport after security guards found a bag of stones in his suitcase. He was charged with smuggling archaeologically valuable national treasures and put in a cell with 14 criminals.

　　The man's wife Manuela, 34, who returned to Germany with their three children, said: "It is unbelievable. I don't know what to do." She said they explained to Turkish authorities that their nine-year-old son Philipp had unwittingly taken the stones from the beach for a school project but added her husband was arrested anyway.

　　German member of the European parliament, Hedwig Keppelhoff-Wiechert, has now appealed to the Turkish ambassador to the EU to personally see to it that the man is set free.