Antiquities smuggling charges filed in Greece

Four members of a shipping family were charged yesterday in connection with a large collection of illegal antiquities that was found earlier this year at a villa on a tiny Aegean island. . .

The four suspects have been charged with illegally possessing, receiving and trading antiquities. Authorities said that 152 artifacts were found at the villa on Schinoussa and at the family’s Athenian home in Psychico, northern Athens. . .

Despina Papadimitriou is the sister of the late antiquities dealer Christos Michailidis, who died in 1999. Sources said the four suspects told authorities that they inherited the collection from the London-based dealer.

Michailidis worked with London-based dealer Robin Symes. The Papadimitriou family was involved in a two-year legal battle with Symes and eventually won the right to half the collection amassed by the two men.

However, sources said that witnesses told authorities that some of the antiquities arrived on the island six months before police raided the villa.

Posted by David on November 23, 2006 3:09 PM