Spanish authorities seize smuggled Picasso sketch worth $464,000

The Spanish government this week revealed the seizure of a sketch by Pablo Picasso reportedly worth nearly half a million dollars. 

The sketch, a 1966 work titled "Tres personnage," was "found in the luggage of a traveller from Switzerland who was trying to bring the work into Spain without declaring it," Spain's Tax Agency and Civil Guard said in a statement.

The traveler "denied to investigators' questions that he had anything to declare," the authorities said, but open searching his luggage agents discovered "a signed work of art by Picasso was found inside" accompanied by "a handwritten invoice" for 1,500 Swiss francs.

With a further search of the luggage, however, "a second invoice was found, this time from an art gallery in Zurich, for a value of 450 000 Swiss francs," along with a note indicating the painting's authorship. 

The price of the painting—along with the apparent attempt to avoid paying fees on its transport through customs—meant that "an alleged smuggling offence was committed," Spanish authorities said.

A contemporary art expert later affirmed both the authenticity of the painting and the accuracy of the Zurich estimate of its worth.