Caltanissetta, Italy - Police in Sicily arrested dozens of
tomb raiders, smugglers and art collectors Wednesday as part
of an international probe into the illegal trafficking of
archaeological artefacts.
The police made 35 arrests and placed a total of 77 people under
investigation in an operation spanning seven countries and two
continents.
They also recovered more than 2,000 artefacts taken from illegal
digs on several archaeological sites in Sicily. Stolen ancient coins
and amphorae were found in the shop of an antiques dealer in
Barcelona, Spain, and in the home of a private collector in Zurich,
Switzerland.
Officials said many of the stolen goods had been bought by
Munich's Gorny and Mosch auction house and London's Lennox Gallery.
The three-year-old investigation also branched out to the United
States and Malta, officials said.
Among the arrested was a 43-year-old Sicilian tomb raider, Orazio
Pellegrino, whom police consider one of the heads of the
organization. Pellegrino was allegedly in contact with collectors in
several foreign countries.
Investigators likened the ring to a Mafia-style organization and
said the thefts were made easy because it was virtually impossible to
guard Sicily's archaeological sites due to their sheer number.
Sicily, the island just off the tip of the Italian boot, is one of
the world's richest places from an archaeological point of view.
Located in the heart of the Mediterranean Sea, it has had a strong
Arab influence and past colonizers include Phoenicians and Greeks.
Wednesday's police operation is part of wider Italian efforts
designed to stop the illegal trade of stolen antiquities. In a trial
currently under way in Rome, the former curator of the J. Paul Getty
museum, Marion True, is accused of buying stolen goods on behalf of
her employer.
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur 
USA
Your Talkback on this Story