A drawing attributed to Picasso, worth 450,000 euros, was seized in early July at Ibiza airport, in the Balearic Islands, in the suitcase of a traveler suspected of "smuggling", customs announced on Monday. Spanish.
The drawing, baptized “Three characters”, and dated 1966, was discovered on July 5 in the possession of a traveler from Switzerland
“having tried to introduce it into Spain without having declared it”
, specified the customs. in a press release.
Questioned by customs officers, who had been warned by their Swiss counterparts of the presence of a
"work"
transported in
"suspicious"
conditions , the traveler assured that the drawing was a simple copy and showed an invoice for 1500 Swiss francs (1515 euros).
But in the bottom of his suitcase, customs officers discovered a second invoice for 450,000 francs (454,000 euros), from an art gallery in Zurich, with a reference to the drawing "Three characters" by Pablo Picasso .
According to a preliminary expertise carried out by heritage specialists, it is
“the original work”
of the Spanish painter and
“the price invoiced by the gallery is in line with the market price”
, underlines the press release.
This first report will have to be confirmed by a
"more exhaustive expertise"
, with the use of
"state-of-the-art techniques"
, add the customs, which specify that they have opened an investigation for facts of
"smuggling"
, entrusted to an investigating judge. .