Recovering stolen heritage
The Europol Podcast
Europol
4.6 • 7 Ratings
🗓️ 31 October 2022
⏱️ 22 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In 2017, an organised crime group from Eastern Europe pulled off a string of robberies in warehouses up and down the UK. The spree ended with their biggest heist, as they stole a stash of rare antiquarian books worth over EUR 2 million. The goods were valuable in more than just monetary terms; they held immense cultural value as well. And when cultural goods are stolen, the best hopes at getting them back come through international police cooperation.
In this episode, find out how Europol worked with British, Italian and Romanian authorities to track down the large and sophisticated gang behind this robbery. From the night of the heist to the years-long manhunt for the kingpin, you’ll hear from the officers who worked this immense case, and how they worked to recover stolen heritage.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The estimated value was around 2 million euro. |
| 0:07.0 | However, some of the books were so rare that their value couldn't be estimated. |
| 0:14.0 | Welcome to the Europol podcast, the official podcast of the EU Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation. In this series, we shine a light on some of the biggest operations Europol has supported |
| 0:25.6 | and how we continue to fight organized crime. |
| 0:32.6 | Today's episode, recovering stolen heritage. |
| 0:40.3 | The illegal trade in cultural goods is a complex crime area. |
| 0:44.3 | It revolves around three main phenomena. |
| 0:47.3 | There's theft when original cultural goods are robbed from their owners or caretakers. |
| 0:53.3 | There's looting the removal of ancient relics from archaeological sites and old buildings. |
| 1:00.0 | And then there's forgery, the illegal imitation of cultural goods. |
| 1:05.0 | Each is a serious crime, and cultural goods in general are always in demand. |
| 1:10.0 | The profit margins are very high, |
| 1:12.5 | making the crime area very attractive for organised criminal networks. What's more, it is usually |
| 1:18.9 | transnational by nature. The criminal groups involved are acquiring the illicit goods in one country |
| 1:24.5 | before selling them overseas. As a result, tracking the actors involved |
| 1:29.3 | requires immense cross-border cooperation, along with complex data analysis. That means EU member |
| 1:36.1 | states and law enforcement from outside of the EU as well often call on Europol for assistance |
| 1:42.2 | with tracking down the criminals involved. |
| 1:47.8 | The case covered in this episode is about a theft of cultural goods that was truly historic. |
| 1:54.0 | A transnational organized crime group managed to steal a consignment of books worth over |
| 1:59.1 | two million US dollars from a warehouse in the |
| 2:02.1 | United Kingdom. |
... |
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