In Tarragona, a retired archaeologist from Torredembarra is under investigation for allegedly keeping more than 300 historical artefacts from archaeological digs he took part in over three decades.
The items were recovered by Tarragona's Guàrdia Urbana, working with the Mossos d'Esquadra and the Tarragona Public Prosecutor's Office. They include Roman-era pieces and around 1,000 19th-century coins minted in Tarragona during the Peninsular War.
According to the Guàrdia Urbana, the artefacts came from dozens of excavations and were never handed over to the competent administration, as required by law. Police also suspect that the material was not catalogued properly, and say some fragments were damaged or missing.
Among the recovered pieces are part of a Roman funerary stele, a capital attributed to the Provincial Forum of Tarraco, a Carrara marble epigraphic inscription from Tarragona's Roman wall, and ceramic fragments from the façade of Ca l'Agapito in Tarragona. David Font, a corporal with the Guàrdia Urbana de Tarragona, said charges were filed for damage to historical heritage and continuous misappropriation of archaeological material.
The Ca l'Agapito fragments are considered especially valuable. They come from a 17th-century inscription from the former Sant Domènech convent, known as Ca l'Agapito. The seized material will now be catalogued and studied by experts from the Generalitat's Department of Culture before being returned to the Tarragona History Museum.
Police said the investigation began in November 2025 after an email complaint from a private citizen. They found some pieces stored in the archaeologist's home patio, in dozens of boxes, and others displayed in a bar he owned in Torredembarra. Investigators also said some material was kept in about 300 boxes in his garden and in another 40 boxes at an address in Tarragona.
The Guàrdia Urbana said there is no evidence that the archaeologist sold the pieces on the black market or made money from them. Over three decades, his specialist excavation company carried out 460 interventions in the Tarragona area, and in more than 100 of those, the mandatory report on the archaeological material found was not submitted to the Generalitat's Department of Culture. Mayor Rubén Viñuales presented the findings publicly at the Guàrdia Urbana police station, saying the operation protects public heritage and prevents its disappearance.