[CPProt.net] UK: Arrests over £30m antiques theft

[MSN and CPProt list (Ton Cremers)]

Arrests over £30m antiques theft 
Two men and a woman have been arrested as part of an investigation into the
theft of millions of pounds worth of art and antiques. 
Much of the property was stolen from country houses and galleries across the
UK during night time burglaries, often leaving homeowners traumatised. 

Police recovered £500,000 in goods from London, Essex and Kent on Wednesday.


Two men, aged 46 and 73, and a woman, aged 50, are being questioned on
suspicion of money laundering offences. 

For two years police have been trying to trace a south London gang believed
to have stolen £30m worth of property. 

Now Scotland Yard's art and antiques unit believe an organised criminal
network was operating from Flogg It auction house, Catford, south-east
London. 

Among the recovered property were valuable miniature paintings stolen from
Madresfield Court, in Worcestershire, where thieves rowed across a moat
during a night-time raid. 

There was also silverware valued at £1m taken in a raid on a dealers in
Petworth, Surrey, and a £50,000 Thomas Sidney Cooper painting snatched from
a house in Windsor, Berkshire. 

Det Ch Insp David Thompson said: "The operation identified a professional
criminal network which was responsible for the wholesale theft and sale of
valuable items from country houses." 

The goods will be displayed during a series of roadshows over the next two
months in order to return them to their rightful owners. 

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/