Credit:  europol.europa.eu /  Italian Carabinieri arrests Romanian kingpin of rare book thieves this month in Turin, Italy.

By Gary Raynaldo       DIPLOMATIC  TIMES

A 40-year-old Romanian national, who was wanted by the British authorities since June 2019, was arrested earlier this month in Turin, Italy, by the Italian Carabinieri (Arma dei Carabinieri -Comando Carabinieri Tutela Patrimonio Culturale).  The suspect was one of the masterminds behind the theft in 2017 of 260 antique books in the United Kingdom worth an estimated €2 million, according to EUROPOL, which supported the coordinated operation.  These antique books were stored in a warehouse with their owners’ permission, to be shipped for display at a book fair in Los Angeles. The books included rare first edition of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. 

-15 Arrests in Theft of Galileo and Newton Original Books

Credit: eurojust.europa.eu /  Photo © Shutterstock /  Eurojust and Europol facilitated the close cooperation between the judicial and law enforcement authorities of Romania, the UK and Italy, which resulted in bringing down the notorious highly sophisticated international organised crime group (OCG ) in June 2019.

The 15 other members of the criminal organisation to which he belonged were arrested earlier last year in a coordinated operation between the British Metropolitan Police, the Romanian National Police (Poliția Română) and the Italian Carabinieri, supported by Europol and Eurojust.  The books, which included original editions of Galileo Galilei and Isaac Newton, were stolen by a highly sophisticated international organised crime group (OCG), known to the authorities for committing a large number of burglaries throughout Europe. Eurojust established a joint investigation team with the countries involved and Europol to decide and execute a joint strategy to ensure that all suspects are apprehended. With the active participation of Eurojust, an operational centre was set up at Europol to coordinate the national authorities’ simultaneous operations, which led to the arrest of 15 suspects, several hearings and 45 searches.

Europol, headquartered in The Hague, the Netherlands, supports  the 28 EU Member States in their fight against terrorism, cybercrime and other serious and organised forms of crime.  Europol also  works  with many non-EU partner states and international organisations.

Credit: eurojusteuropa /  Eurojust  is tasked with handling of serious cross-border and organized crime by fostering investigative and prosecutorial co-ordination in the European Union.