[MSN] Falmouth police uncovered a stash of drugs in a Ballymeade home yesterday as part of an FBI investigation into a 29-year-old stolen artwork case.

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Police stumble on pot stash
By AMANDA LEHMERT
STAFF WRITER
EAST FALMOUTH - The Falmouth police uncovered a stash of drugs in a
Ballymeade home yesterday as part of an FBI investigation into a 29-year-old
stolen artwork case, investigators said.

 
 At Falmouth police headquarters, Falmouth Patrolman Ron Carpenter displays
some of the drugs found during a search at a home in Falmouth yesterday. 
(Daniel W. Webb): http://www.capecodonline.com/cctimes/policestumble10.htm 

 
Police are searching for Marc Mardirosian, 51, intending to charge him with
trafficking marijuana and possession of firearms without a permit after they
found three firearms, 53 pounds of marijuana, and cocaine during the FBI
search of 9 Highwood Lane in the upscale gated community.

The home belongs to attorney-turned-artist Robert Mardirosian, Marc
Mardirosian's father and the target of the FBI probe. Last year, Robert
Mardirosian admitted to a reporter he had been holding seven stolen
paintings, including a Paul Cezanne with a million-dollar price tag.

The FBI and the U.S. attorney's office would not comment on the case
yesterday, but Falmouth police said they were searching the home for
paperwork related to the stolen painting case.

The paintings were stolen from the Stockbridge home of Michael Bawkin in
1978.

After an elaborate attempt to sell the stolen paintings was thwarted by the
London-based Art Loss Register last year, Robert Mardirosian told a Boston
Globe reporter he had been holding the paintings for three decades.

Robert Mardirosian said the paintings had been stashed in his home by a
former client who has stolen them.

During the FBI's search of the Ballymeade home, they detected an intense
odor of marijuana coming from a downstairs closet, according to Falmouth
police.

Investigators uncovered the marijuana, worth an estimated $370,000, a
shotgun, a rifle and a pellet gun, according to police.

Marc Mardirosian does not have a permit to carry firearms, police said.

Amanda Lehmert can be

reached at alehmert at capecodonline.com.