Photo: LETA
The law enforcement authorities of Lithuania and several other countries have detained four Georgian citizens who are suspected of stealing valuable books from the libraries of various European countries, including Latvia, the Lithuanian Prosecutor General’s Office announced.
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A total of about 100 policemen were involved in the operation.
In total, the number of people arrested in this case has reached nine persons.
One of the suspects has been in custody in Lithuania since the end of last year, but it was not reported to the public until now, the General Prosecutor’s Office of Lithuania confirmed on Friday.
This Georgian citizen was detained last fall in Brussels based on the international arrest warrant issued by Vilnius. In December, the detainee was extradited to Lithuania.
The Lithuanian authorities suspect this organized crime group of the theft of 17 valuable books from the Rare Book Reading Room and the Professor’s Reading Room of Vilnius University in May 2023.
The value of these books is estimated at around 440,000 euros.
In total, the group is suspected of stealing 170 books from libraries in France, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Switzerland and Germany.
The thieves focused on the works of Russian classics published in the 19th century. The books stolen in Lithuania also belong to the category of such expenses.
The operation to arrest the thieves took place this week and involved police officers from Georgia, as well as France, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Switzerland.
In total, 27 objects were searched, during which approximately 150 books were confiscated, including one volume stolen from a French library. The rest of the books are still being checked.
The international operation was coordinated by the European Union Agency for Judicial Cooperation in Criminal Matters (“Eurojust”) and the European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation (Europol).
Eurojust’s statement released on Thursday said that the group used different methods to steal books.
In some cases, criminals have used false identities, such as pretending to be researchers, when ordering books from libraries.
In other cases, the stolen book is replaced by a copy.
“Eurojust” became involved in the investigation in November 2023, and with its support, a joint group of investigators was established, the work of which also involves Europol.
On April 23, 2022, the theft also took place in the National Library of Latvia (LNB). The criminals appropriated Alexander Pushkin’s book “Poltava” (“Полтава”) published in 1829, Alexei Kruchnykh’s book “Let’s Protest” (“Возропщем”) published in 1913, and Alexei Kruchnych’s book “Victory over the Sun” (“Побѣда над Солнцем” published in an unknown year “).
At the time, it was estimated that the value of the stolen Pushkin work on the Russian market could be between 10 and 12,000 euros.
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Tags: Georgian citizens arrested stealing libraries European countries including Latvia
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