2024-07-21 05:48:26
About 6,400 works of art – illegally exported amphorae, gold objects, paintings – were found in an operation carried out with the support of Interpol and Europol in about twenty European countries, and 85 people were arrested, reported AFP.
Several thousand checks were carried out at airports, ports, border crossings, auction houses, museums and private homes, as well as on the Internet, Interpol explained in a press release.
During the operation, the Spanish and Ukrainian authorities confiscated 11 gold Scythian objects with an estimated value of 60 million euros. The items were stolen in Ukraine and smuggled to Spain, BTA reported.
In France, the authorities confiscated an illegally exported painting by the Vietnamese artist Mai Thuur, valued at nearly 170 thousand euros.
The countries involved in Operation Pandora VIII are Albania, Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Croatia, Cyprus, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Malta, Montenegro, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Serbia, Sweden, Ukraine and Great Britain, notes AFP.