Smugglers suspected as hoard of ancient art found on island

GREEK authorities have found a hoard of ancient Mediterranean art in a villa on a remote island.

In what they suspect is one of the most important cases of antiquities smuggling for years, the culture ministry said that 99 objects had been recovered in a police raid at the weekend on the tiny island of Schinoussa.

"This is a huge collection," said George Voulgarakis, the culture minister. He described it as one of the most "complex and complicated cases of antiquities smuggling" in recent years.

"Cultural goods belong to everyone. They should not be smuggled," he said.

The treasures were recovered from the secluded seaside villa on Schinoussa, an islet in the central Cyclades archipelago almost half-way between mainland Greece and Turkey.

The items - some more than 3,000 years old - include a headless marble statue of Aphrodite, the goddess of love, dating to Roman times, a marble sarcophagus decorated with sculpted human and animal masks, three marble busts and two granite sphinxes.

The most startling discovery was that of a shipping container outside the villa, found to hold an entire ancient temple.

No-one was found at the property during the raid.

Police also discovered a marble sculpting workshop that had been operated in the compound to make copies, and there was evidence that the artefacts had been used for commercial purposes without the required licence, Mr Voulgarakis said.

The minister said many of the finds appeared to have been bought at the Christie's and Sotheby's international auction houses, but none had been declared to national authorities, as Greek law demands. "There are seals and packaging which indicate that there was commercial trafficking going on," Mr Voulgarakis added.

Investigators were still searching the grounds of the villa for more items.

The villa's owner, Despina Papadimitriou, a London-based Greek woman in the shipping business, has indicated through lawyers that she is willing to co-operate in the investigation. Two of her lawyers flew in from London and told authorities she knows nothing about the antiquities because she had rented the villa to an offshore company.

"Our client is willing to co-operate with authorities at all levels," police quoted the two lawyers as telling the prosecutor.

Ms Papadimitriou is a sister of Christos Michailidis, a late antiquities dealer who was co-owner of the villa until he was killed in 1999 in an apparent accident.

Mr Michailides, according to the investigation in Athens, had business and social ties with Marion True, a former curator of the J Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, who is now on trial in Rome on charges of stealing Roman relics from Italy.

The private possession of ancient and mediaeval artefacts, even to the chance pocketing of a shred of old pottery from an archaeological site, is a punishable offence in Greece.

The law foresees up to 20 years' imprisonment for major cases, or a minimum two years for even the smallest piece of valued pottery.