Madrid - Two letters written by Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte as well as 17th and 18th century Papal edicts were found by police pursuing suspected British hashish traffickers in Spain, El Pais reported yesterday.
Police discovered the manuscripts in a safe during a May 1997 raid on a villa in eastern Spain, but investigating Judge Balthasar Garzon had kept the information secret until this week, the paper said. Thirteen British nationals were arrested and 1,042 kg of hashish seized during the raid in Alfas del Pi.
Both written in 1813, one letter was written by Napoleon to Eugene, the son that his wife Josephine had during her first marriage to Viscount Alexandre Beauharnais. The second referred to an imperial decree granting nobility to a colonel.
Also seized were Papal bulls signed by Pope Clement IX, dated 1668, and by Benedict XIV, dated 1754.