The Italian police arrested 35 people suspected of smuggling or receiving archaeological goods in raids in eight regions on Wednesday.

A further 42 people are being investigated on the same suspicion and the goods include coins, statues and vases, some even dating back to pre-Roman times, local media said.

During the raids in the suspects' apartments on Wednesday, police also discovered equipments, which were used to make fake coins and vases.

The investigators said the artifacts were dug up illegally by teams of tomb-raiders in Sicily who, through a middle-man in Gela, passed them on to receivers in Germany, Britain, Switzerland, Spain and the United States.

Some of the stolen items were acquired by the Gorny and Mosch auction house in Munich and the Lennox Gallery in London, police sources said.

Source: Xinhua