Roman marble bust among 11,000 stolen artefacts recovered in European crackdown

A crackdown on international art trafficking has recovered 11,049 stolen artefacts, including ancient coins and books and a marble bust believed to represent the niece of a Roman emperor, European police force Europol said on Thursday.

Sixty people were arrested in the raids across 14 European countries, including Ireland, last year, part of so-called 'Operation Pandora' launched by Europol in 2016 and renewed annually since then.

Among the recovered artefacts were over 3,000 ancient coins, 77 ancient books stolen from the archives of a monastery, and a Roman marble bust of a woman believed to represent Salonia Matidia, niece of Trajan, Roman emperor from 98-117 AD.

Spain led the latest reported Pandora crackdown with the support of Europol and Interpol. In addition to Ireland, Austria, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Croatia, Cyprus, Greece, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Sweden and Bosnia also took part in the operation. -Reuters