[MSN] Spanish police have arrested 52 people accused of plundering 300, 000 artefacts from excavation sites throughout Andalusia in the largest swoop against illegal archaeological treasure hunting in the world, the interior ministry said.

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Raids net 300,000 artefacts


Dale Fuchs in Madrid
Thursday February 8, 2007
The Guardian 


Spanish police have arrested 52 people accused of plundering 300,000
artefacts from excavation sites throughout Andalusia in the largest swoop
against illegal archaeological treasure hunting in the world, the interior
ministry said.
The coins, urns, sculptures and mosaics from Iberian, Roman and Islamic
settlements were stolen at night using metal detectors, historical maps of
the digs and excavation manuals, police said. Sometimes watchmen
collaborated with the thieves, letting them into sites and keeping a
lookout.

Most of the 31 sites plundered were in the province of Seville, rich in
ruins from Roman and Moorish times. Others were in the southern cities of
Cadiz and Malaga.
A team of 200 officers searched 68 flats to confiscate the pieces, many of
which were bound for foreign collectors. The ring sent coins and small items
through the mail. Police found larger pieces destined for Faro, Portugal,
where they were to be flown to Belgium. An Italian collector acted as the
middleman.

Police learned about the antiquities ring during an investigation of illegal
underwater looters who scavenged the Bay of Cadiz in search of shipwrecks
and treasure from Spanish galleons. The underwater pirates used hi-tech
equipment such as a submersible robot worth nearly £400,000 to identify,
salvage and treat artefacts from the wrecks.