• A 49-year-old woman has been charged with “smuggling national treasures” for the second time in possession of pre-Hispanic artefacts.
• A man, 62, and a woman, 49, from the United States have been arrested with more than 150 Maya artifacts.
• The car they were travelling in contained 166 items, most of which are thought to date back to the Maya period.

Police in Guatemala detained a man and a woman from the United States who were driving more than 150 Maya artifacts.

According to an archaeologist, more than 90% of the items were genuine and dated from pre-Hispanic times.

The woman, who lives in Guatemala, was detained for the second time in possession of pre-Hispanic treasures, according to police.

She had been detained just days before at the Guatemala City airport.

Customs officers discovered two Maya stone carvings in her luggage. The woman claimed she bought them at a market in Antigua.

The 49-year-old woman was charged with “smuggling national treasures” and was granted bail on the condition that she not leave Guatemala.

She was detained again three days later, 45 kilometres (28 miles) south-west of Antigua.

The car she and a 62-year-old American were travelling in contained 166 items, the majority of which are thought to date back to the Maya period.

The Maya civilisation flourished from 250BC to AD900, encompassing much of the area now occupied by south-eastern Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, and parts of Honduras and El Salvador.

Mexico and Central American governments are attempting to restrict the sale of their countries’ pre-Hispanic treasures.

They are increasing checks on travellers carrying suspicious items and demanding that international auction houses do more to determine the provenance of items they sell.

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