These Georgians arrested by the police had a well-established technique for stealing books all over Europe

INTERNATIONAL – A meticulous and sophisticated organization. The European criminal police agency, Europol, announced Thursday April 25 that it had arrested nine Georgians suspected of having stolen at least 170 rare books. These thefts took place in several European libraries between 2022 and 2023 and the criminal network had a very specific technique to carry them out.

The suspects played the student card to gain access to these precious books. Feigning interest in a university assignment, they directly asked to consult them on site. They then took advantage of the reading rooms to take photos of these historical documents as well as their measurements. The reason ? Be able to reproduce them identically.

Photographs and measurements in their pockets, they then put the book back in its place before returning a few days, weeks, or even months later to consult the same work, which they exchanged this time with the counterfeit they had made. And the quality was so remarkable that it managed to fool librarians, explains Europol.

But not all of their methods were so sophisticated. The criminals were also content with robberies, like the one organized at the Inalco (National Institute of Oriental Languages ​​and Civilizations) in Paris in October, where they took a dozen manuscripts, reports the Guardian.

The thieves were particularly interested in Russian historical works and managed to steal an original manuscript by Alexander Pushkin and a book by Nikolai Gogol.

A massive operation

“ In total, the criminal group would be responsible for the theft of at least 170 books, causing financial damage amounting to approximately 2.5 million euros and an immeasurable loss of assets for the company. », Estimates Europol. Many countries are affected by these flights, including France, Germany, Switzerland, Poland, the Czech Republic, Estonia and Finland.

Some of these manuscripts were also sold at auction, making them now unrecoverable.

The operation took place after the French authorities informed Europol of these losses in their library. Other countries had already reported the same thing.

The investigation brought together 100 police officers, sent to 27 countries to find the culprits. Nine were arrested, four of whom were found in Georgia and Latvia. Three others were arrested in Estonia, France and Lithuania. Finally, two of them are currently under judicial supervision in France since their arrest at Brussels airport in November 2023.

Also see on HuffPost :