SFTP deploy creates wrong target dir

Using the m11 artifact plugin to deploy via sftp, I have the following setting:

maven.repo.R2.directory=/home/qopt/theussl/maven/sftp

If initially the maven/sftp/ dir does not exist in my home dir, the deploy fails with a TransferFailedException and no useful error message. However, the above directory tree is created in my home dir, ie /home/qopt/theussl/home/qopt/theussl/maven/

If I create the target directory by hand, the deploy succeeds, the files are put in the correct locations, but the empty dummy directory in my home dir is still created.