A farmer in Greece has been arrested after police found a rare ancient statue buried on his property. The illegally excavated marble statue, dating from the 4th century BC, was found by a special unit in charge of combatting trafficking in antiquities.
The statue was hidden under freshly dug soil in a field owned by Mr Dimitris Gerakis (55) at Marathon, 25 miles north-west of Athens.
The 140 centimetre high statue, believed to be of the fertility goddess Cybele, is of a woman sitting on a throne and holding a dove in her left hand. It weighs more than one ton and has been valued at 100 million drachmas (£231,000).
The special police unit, acting on a tip-off, uncovered the one-ton statue. Police said Mr Gerakis, who was offering the statue for sale, now faces charges of the illegal possession of antiquities and will appear before a public prosecutor tomorrow.