Sofia, Nov 22: Bulgarian authorities arrested 35 people and seized ancient cultural artefacts worth more than 100 million euros ($115 million) as part of a mammoth trafficking bust supported by Europol, the agency said Thursday.
The 3,000 stolen objects must now be “identified” and “returned”, Europol official Jens Liedhegener told reporters in Sofia.
Some of the items dated back to 2000 BC, with the assortment including Greco-Roman and Thracian antiquities as well as masks, military equipment, jewellery and vases.
The Bulgarian National History Museum is holding the artefacts for now, according to a Europol statement.
Assisted by Europol and several European countries, the operation led to 131 searches — 120 in Bulgaria and the rest in France, Albania, Germany and Greece.
The operation began after a 2020 house raid in Bulgaria, where authorities seized around 7,000 cultural artefacts of “inestimable historical and monetary value”, Europol said.
The EU’s police agency suspects the now-dismantled smuggling ring of “financing illegal excavations across Bulgaria and neighbouring Balkan countries”.
In 2024, Europol created an operational taskforce to “facilitate information exchange, coordination, and analytical support” between EU countries at Bulgaria’s request.
© Agence France-Presse
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