75 Arrested in European Crackdown on Art Trafficking

Spanish Civil Guard

The European police have arrested 75 people and recovered about 3,500 stolen archaeological artifacts and other artworks as part of the dismantling of an international network of art traffickers.

The arrests, announced on Sunday in a statement by Spain’s Interior Ministry, followed a Pan-European police operation begun in October and led by investigators in Spain and Cyprus.

The criminal network handled artworks looted from war-stricken countries, as well as works stolen from museums and other sites, the statement said. In the southern Spanish city of Murcia, the police recovered about 500 archaeological pieces, including 19 stolen from the city’s archaeological museum in 2014.