Bulgaria arrests 35 in large-scale trafficking of cultural goods

(Reuters) -Bulgaria has arrested 35 people linked to a criminal network involved in large-scale trafficking of cultural goods across Europe, BTA news agency reported on Thursday, quoting the head of the country's anti-organised crime unit.

"We have conducted 131 searches. Within 24 hours, 35 people were detained, we found thousands of cultural valuables, with the numbers still increasing, and over 50 antique firearms," the head of the General Directorate for Combating Organised Crime (GDBOP), Boyan Raev, told a news briefing, according to BTA.

It quoted him as saying an international raids were carried out on Thursday, led by Bulgaria and coordinated with the Europol and Eurojust agencies, during which cars, safes and other items were seized.

The criminal network had been operating for over 16 years in Western Europe, the Balkans, the United States and elsewhere, Sofia Deputy City Prosecutor Angel Kanev told the media briefing.

"Over one billion dollars have been identified in the money laundering case so far," he said.

The investigation began after 2020 house raid in Bulgaria in which police seized about 7,000 cultural artefacts with inestimable historical and monetary value, Europol said in a statement.

(Reporting by Ivana Sekularac; editing by Mark Heinrich)

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