A number of church icons were located and seized after the dismantling of a criminal organization by the Sub-Directorate for the Protection of Property Rights, Cultural Heritage and the Environment.
The police proceeded to arrest four members of the spiral, while the competent services are checking the images in order to establish their origin.
The hundreds of stolen images from Monasteries and Churches of Epirus are always in the focus of the authorities, but so far there is no information about them.
As it emerged from the investigation, the defendants, at least from the beginning of December 2023, joined together and established a criminal organization with permanent and structured roles, with the purpose of selling fake paintings of various styles allegedly made by world-renowned painters, as well as ancient movable monuments and images, to prospective buyers in the wider Attica region and also in Europe.
To put an end to their activity, a special team of police officers was formed and from the investigation carried out after appropriate evaluation and utilization of information, the members of the organization were identified and their scope of action was ascertained.
A police operation followed, in the context of which the defendants were arrested, following a planned meeting for the purchase and sale of -4- Picasso paintings and a Jackson Pollock for a sum of -4,400,000- euros.
In a search carried out in the homes of the accused in the presence of a judicial officer, the following were found and confiscated:
-4- fake PICASSO paintings and fake painting – “composition” of the same artist showing a human form and trying to imitate his style,
fake painting JACKSON POLLOCK and -4- fake paintings – “composition” of the same artist of different dimensions,
-3- fake paintings, with signatures of MAGRITTE, HENRI MATISSE and TSAROUCHIS,
multitude of ecclesiastical icons with various representations and different dimensions,
a number of objects and works of art characterized by significant historical and archaeological value (pots, clay figurines, metal objects, etc.),
-118- tables,
-17- folders with documents related to the case,
-25- photographs depicting works of art or signatures of well-known artists on works of art,
-12- stone benches,
tablet, digital camera, mobile phones,
-2- laptops and
the amount of -20,900- €.
The confiscated paintings were shown to an art historian of the national gallery, who gave an opinion on their forgery, while the confiscated antiquities were shown to archaeologists and Byzantine experts of the competent Ephorates of Antiquities where they were found, who gave an opinion that the majority of them fall under the protective provisions of the law on the protection of antiquities and cultural heritage in general.
The evidence will be handed over for safekeeping and final assessment to the competent local Services of the Ministry of Culture, while the other evidence will be sent for laboratory examination to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations.
