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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Entertainment
Lisa O'Carroll and Philip Oltermann

Georgians arrested over cross-Europe thefts of rare library books

Exterior of Warsaw University library
The University of Warsaw had identified 79 books as missing from its library. Photograph: Sergio Delle Vedove/Getty Images

Police have arrested nine Georgians suspected of running a sophisticated criminal operation stealing valuable antique books – including an original Alexander Pushkin manuscript – from national libraries across Europe.

Shelves of 19th-century Russian-language literature had been ransacked over two years across several countries and replaced with fakes, Europol, the EU police agency, revealed on Thursday.

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