May 07, 2008	Wednesday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 1, 1429

MADRID: Spanish police have seized more than 700 priceless artefacts plundered from archaeological sites in South America and smuggled to Europe, they said on Tuesday.

The pieces, predating the Spanish conquest, included dozens of valuable golden objects, masks, vessels, pendants and maces, stolen from Peru, Ecuador and Colombia.

An Interior Ministry statement said police had arrested a Spanish man and his Colombian wife who had been trafficking in stolen artefacts for years, selling them in auction houses in Europe, mainly in France.

The couple had planned to stage an exhibition and auction this month in France, but were arrested after returning from Colombia.

The seized artefacts will be sent for analysis to the Madrid Archaeological Museum and authorities expected them to be claimed by their countries of origin.—Reuters