Italian police arrest tomb raiders, artefact collectors

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.