75 arrested in operation against cultural goods theft: Europol

A total of 75 individuals were arrested in Operation Pandora which aimed to tackle the theft and illicit trafficking of cultural goods, the European Police Office (Europol) said Monday.


Operation Pandora took place in October and November 2016 by authorities from 18 European countries, with the support of Europol.

During the operation, 3,561 works of art and cultural goods were seized, almost half of which were archaeological objects, including 19 objects stolen from a museum in Murcia of Spain in 2014.

Several of the artefacts seized in Greece are of great cultural importance, such as a marble Ottoman tombstone and two Byzantine artefacts, according to Europol.

Police also found over 400 old coins following investigations into suspicious online advertisements.

International institutions, like INTERPOL, the United Nations Organization for Education, Science and Culture (UNESCO), also participated in the investigations.

  [Xinhua/china]

24/1/17