Thousands of archaeological items recovered by police in Spain

POLICE officers in Spain who raided the home of a married couple have discovered a hoard of several thousands of archaeological pieces.

At the property in San Fernando, Cadiz, Guardia Civil agents found coins from the Roman to the medieval period, buttons, keys, beads, thimbles, rings, bullets and numerous pottery vessels.

The house had an exhibition area of pieces, a warehouse, a workshop and another with computers from where they conducted their sales operation.

The couple was allegedly selling the stolen items via auction portals on the internet and it is estimated they netted more than €100,000 in two years, mainly from foreign buyers.

Police have handed the items to the  Museum of Cadiz, who will make an inventory and catalogue the items.

Investigators also try to locate the lots that had already sold, most of them abroad, although they recognise that it will be “quite complicated” for these items to return to Spain.

The investigation originated in the wake of the Dupondio operation in Murcia when 3,000 ancient coins and 20,000 archaeological pieces were recovered.