Italian police smash cross-border antiquities trafficking

Italian police say they have broken up a cross-border criminal gang illicitly trafficking in archaeological artifacts

Italian police say they have broken up a cross-border criminal gang illicitly trafficking in archaeological artifacts.

Culture Minister Dario Franceschini said thousands of artifacts were recovered.

The Carabinieri paramilitary art crime squad said that police at dawn Monday carried out searches in Britain, Germany, France and Serbia, as well as in Italy.

Twenty-three arrest warrants were issued but it was not immediately clear how many people were in custody.

Prosecutors based in Crotone, Italy, conducted the probe of alleged trafficking of ancient artifacts dug up clandestinely in Calabria, the “toe” of Italy. The antiquities were then illegally exported.

Italian law specifies that antiquities discovered on Italy’s territory belong to the state.

Police said investigators would provide more details later Monday.