[MSN] Italian police arrest tomb raiders, artefact collectors

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Italian police arrest tomb raiders, artefact collectors
By DPA
Jan 31, 2007, 14:30 GMT

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.

C 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur