The prosecutor leading the probe into the seizure of hundreds of illegal antiquities at a villa on the island of Schinoussa will travel to Italy soon to exchange information with Italian authorities, sources told Kathimerini yesterday.

The visit of Yiannis Diotis to Italy is considered vital to the investigation as he is expected to gather vital information about the possible involvement of Christos Michailidis, an antiquities dealer who died in 1999, and his British business partner Robin Symes in the affair.

Sources said that some 2,500 numbered photographs of antiquities signed by Michailidis and Symes have been found at the villa. The fact that each photograph has the price of the item and the name of an antiquities dealer written on the back makes the find particularly significant for the probe.