Customs officials of the Tax Agency and agents of the Civil Guard have intervened for smuggling at the Ibiza airport a drawing attributed to Pablo Picasso.
The work, ‘Trois personnages’ (1966), was found in the luggage of a traveler from Switzerland who was trying to introduce the work in Spain without declaring on July 5.
Investigators discovered in his luggage an invoice from a Swiss gallery in Zurich for amount of 450,000 Swiss francs (an equivalent amount in euros).
The authorities in matters of Cultural Heritage and Fine Arts have considered, in a preliminary way and in the absence of more exhaustive reports, that the work is original and that the price invoiced by the gallery is adjusted to the market price.
The traveler had in his luggage a bill from a Swiss gallery for an amount of 450,000 Swiss francs
The action stems from information sent by Swiss Customs to the Permanent Operational Coordination Center of the Customs Department of the Tax Agency about a traveler who, originating in the Swiss country, was on a commercial flight from Zurich to Ibiza carrying a work of art in circumstances that the Swiss authorities considered suspicious.
After this information, an operation was arranged, made up of Customs officials from the Tax Agency and Civil Guard agents, to intervene in the work in the event that the traveler tried to introduce it without a declaration, thus removing it from the control of the Spanish customs authorities.
Blade Intervention
Upon arrival at Ibiza airport, the traveler denied investigators’ questions that he had anything to declare and crossed the corresponding green channel. They immediately proceeded to check his luggage, finding inside a work of art signed by Picasso. At that point, the traveler went on to claim that it was a copy and produced a handwritten invoice for 1,500 Swiss francs.
However, in the in-depth search of his luggage, a second invoice was found, this time from an art gallery in Zurich, for a value of 450,000 Swiss francs, in which the title of the work ‘Trois personnages’ appears, of 1966, which corresponded to the work of art subject to customs checks.
As it is a good that exceeds 150,000 euros and that has been introduced without a customs declaration, an alleged smuggling crime would have been committed
In this situation, and given the theft of the work of art from the customs authorities, the sheet was intervened for an alleged crime of smuggling, as it was introduced without a declaration from Switzerland (non-customs territory of the European Union) a work of art whose value would clearly exceed the established legal limits.
As it is a good that exceeds 150,000 euros and that has been introduced without a customs declaration despite the express questions of the authorities in relation to whether the passenger had something to declare, an alleged crime of smuggling would have been committed, in accordance with the provisions in the Organic Law 12/1995, of Contraband Repression.
original work
The legal introduction of the work in Spain would have implied having to pay customs duties and VAT on imports, in addition to the administrative declaration obligations to which the merchandise was subject.
After the intervention of the work, steps were taken with the General Directorate of Cultural Heritage and Fine Arts of the Ministry of Culture, which contacted an expert in contemporary art, the director of the Ibiza Museum of Contemporary Artwhich has provided preliminary positive information on the originality of the intervened work and its market value, which would correspond to the price invoiced by the Swiss gallery.
For the definitive accreditation, more exhaustive reports will be required, which will have to be carried out later by experts in the work of Picasso using advanced techniques. The work of art is at the disposal of the Court of Instruction 4 of Ibiza, which is in charge of the investigation of the facts