Italian police say they’ve recovered greater than 3,500 artifacts as the results of a long-term operation involving a whole lot of officers. The operation resulted within the arrest of 21 suspects, according to CNN. The announcement was made at a press convention in Puglia on earlier this week.
The police division for the safety of cultural heritage, the Carabinieri, labored with the particular operations group ROS and the “Cacciatori Puglia” airborne squadron to hold out dozens of searches towards people suspected of looting and illicit excavations in addition to the trafficking of stolen archaeology artifacts with “inestimable historic, cultural and business worth.”
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In accordance with the Italian daily newspaper La Gazzetta del Mezzogiorno, the operation was nicknamed “Canusium,” a reference to the traditional title of the municipality the place the trafficking group primarily based its operations. Investigative work and precautionary measures spanned the areas of Puglia, Basilicata, Campania, Lazio, and Abruzzo, and lasted nearly a yr.
Whereas 21 suspects have been arrested as far as a part of Operation Canusium, investigators mentioned there are a complete of 51 suspects, together with grave robbers, worldwide traffickers, and a kind of intermediary often called a fence. The fences positioned the illicit archaeology gadgets, amongst them vases, jewels, oil lamps, and gold cash, up on the market in each home and worldwide markets.
The three,586 artifacts which have been recovered embrace loom weights, bell-shaped kraters, jugs, cups, plates, miniature vases, oil lamps, and cash from as early because the 4th century BCE.
Prosecutor Francesco Tosto referred to as the discovered gadgets uncommon and worthwhile, estimating the worth of the cash to be €50,000–€60,000.
In accordance with CNN, Italian police additionally recovered 60 metallic detectors and different objects per clandestine excavations, together with lengthy metallic spikes and shovels.