Patrimony goods worth 2.5 million pounds, stolen from UK, found by DIICOT

The Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT) prosecutors have found, following a house search carried out in Neamt County, several patrimony objects - old books and manuscripts - about which there are indications that they were stolen from the UK during 2017 - 2019.

According to a DIICOT release sent on Friday to AGERPRES, the persons suspected of committing the deeds are currently in a state of pre-trial detention, on the territory of the UK.

"The patrimony goods had been stolen in January 2017 in Feltham, London. The books, which include 17th-century works by Italian astronomer Galileo and Isaac Newton, as well as of 18th-century Spanish painter Francisco Goya, have a total value of over 2.5 million pounds. These works are of international importance and are irreplaceable," the DIICOT release said.

The action was carried out on the basis of the "Brookes" Joint Investigation Agreement, concluded in 2017, at Eurojust level, between Romania, through the Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism, and the UK - the Crown Prosecution Service and the Metropolitan Police, later being extended with the Milan Prosecutor's Office, on the occasion of which several coordination meetings were organized with the participation of British, Romanian and Italian prosecutors and police officers.

The searches were attended by prosecutors from the central structure of DIICOT together with judicial police officers from the General Police Inspectorate's Directorate of Criminal Investigations.