(Reuters) -Bulgaria has arrested 35 individuals linked to a felony community concerned in large-scale trafficking of cultural items throughout Europe, BTA information company reported on Thursday, quoting the top of the nation’s anti-organised crime unit.
“We’ve got performed 131 searches. Inside 24 hours, 35 individuals have been detained, we discovered 1000’s of cultural valuables, with the numbers nonetheless rising, and over 50 vintage firearms,” the top of the Basic Directorate for Combating Organised Crime (GDBOP), Boyan Raev, advised a information briefing, in keeping with BTA.
It quoted him as saying a world raids have been carried out on Thursday, led by Bulgaria and coordinated with the Europol and Eurojust companies, throughout which vehicles, safes and different objects have been seized.
The felony community had been working for over 16 years in Western Europe, the Balkans, america and elsewhere, Sofia Deputy Metropolis Prosecutor Angel Kanev advised the media briefing.
“Over one billion {dollars} have been recognized within the cash laundering case up to now,” he mentioned.
The investigation started after 2020 home raid in Bulgaria wherein police seized about 7,000 cultural artefacts with inestimable historic and financial worth, Europol mentioned in an announcement.
(Reporting by Ivana Sekularac; modifying by Mark Heinrich)