Suspects of stealing antique books were detained in Georgia and the EU

Nine suspects in the theft of antique books were detained in Georgia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and France. About it reports Europol.

According to police, the criminal group stole at least 170 rare books, causing financial losses of 2.5 million euros to libraries and “immeasurable material damage to society.”

More than 150 books were confiscated from the detainees – their origin will be established later. One book stolen from a French library has already been returned. Several stolen publications were sold through auction houses in Moscow and St. Petersburg.

According to Europol, a criminal group consisting of Georgian citizens stole books from European libraries in 2022 and 2023. Their target was rare books by mainly Russian writers – for example, first editions of Alexander Pushkin and Nikolai Gogol.

In libraries, the suspects asked for antique books, citing their “academic interest.” Having received the publications, they carefully measured and photographed them, and then returned them. After a while, the suspects again asked for the same publications – and returned copies. Experts called the quality of the replicas “excellent.”

There were cases of direct theft of books, writes Europol. Having studied the necessary publications, the suspects entered the libraries and took them away.

It is not reported what punishment awaits the suspects if their guilt is proven.