Law enforcement officers of Lithuania and several other countries arrested four citizens of Sakartvelo, suspected of stealing valuable books from Vilnius University and libraries in other European countries, the General Prosecutor's Office reported on Thursday.
About 100 police officers, including four Lithuanian policemen, participated in the operation, which also included other procedural actions, including searches.
It is suspected that in May 2023, members of this organized criminal group stole 17 books of great historical and cultural significance, worth about 440 thousand, from the Rare Reading Room and the Professor's Room of the Vilnius University library. euros.
In total, the group is suspected to be from Lithuania, France, Germany, in Poland, in Latvia, having stolen 170 books worth approximately 2,5 million from libraries in Estonia and Switzerland. euros.
Having discovered patterns among book thefts in Europe, the international media previously announced that the thief was interested in the 19th century. books of Russian classics. These are also stolen in Lithuania.
The prosecutor's office claims that the law enforcement operation took place this week, and officers from Lithuania, France, Latvia, Poland, Switzerland and Sakartvel participated in it.
During it, 27 searches were carried out, during which about 150 books were taken, one of them was stolen from a French library. Others will be examined to determine whether they have been stolen from libraries in other European countries.
The actions of the international operation were coordinated by Eurojust and Europol officials.
According to the prosecutor's office, the data collected during the investigations allow us to reasonably believe that the members of the group stole the books in several ways.
Sometimes they used false identities, posing as researchers when ordering books from libraries. While some members of the group interacted with library staff to distract them, other suspects replaced the stolen books with their forgeries. In other cases, gang members would simply break into libraries and steal books they had already checked out, the report said.
Considering the fact that the libraries of different countries were affected by the members of the criminal group, Eurojust coordinated the actions of prosecutors and officers investigating crimes in different countries from November 2023, and provided assistance in the exchange of data.
In order to identify the persons who committed the crimes, a joint investigation group was created, in which Europol officers also participated. On the Day of Law Enforcement Actions, a coordination center was established at Eurojust to coordinate actions.
Meanwhile, the pre-trial investigation started in Lithuania regarding the theft of valuables of great historical and cultural significance from the Vilnius University library is continuing.
Author Saulius Jakučionis
