Palestinian authorities have seized hundreds of antiquities as they smashed a major smuggling ring in the West Bank town of Bethlehem, police said on Wednesday.

Valuable objects from the Canaanite, Roman, Byzantine, Greek and Islamic periods were seized by police in a Bethlehem house on Tuesday night, said Colonel Hassan Abu Namus, who heads the Palestinian antiquities police.

The antiquities were to be sent to Israel with the help of Israeli smugglers, he said at a news conference, surrounded by seized items that included coins, oil lamps and statuettes.

Seven Palestinians were arrested in the bust, which Namus described as the most important since the creation of the Palestinian Authority in 1994.

But the main suspect managed to flee, heading towards nearby Jerusalem, the official said.