A 400-year-old book that has been missing from Glasgow has been seized by police in Italy.
Police Scotland officers have been working with their Italian and Dutch counterparts to recover the book that was illicitly removed from the collection of the Catholic Church in Scotland.
The book of sermons by Cardinal Bellerine, which dates back to 1605, was gifted to the church in Glasgow in the early 1900s.
It's not known when it was removed from the collection but came to the attention of officers once again while for sale on a Dutch website in September 2020 before being sold to a buyer in Italy.
It's against Canon law to alienate the property of the church allowing officers from the Carabinieri to seize the book.
During investigations, it was discovered a priest had gifted the book to the Archdiocese in Glasgow.
It was formally resituated to the Scots College in Rome in April before being brought back to Scotland.
Detective Sergeant Billy Telford, Scottish Heritage Crime Group, said: “This is a fantastic result for the church and for all the officers involved in the investigation.
“It was an extremely interesting case to work on, tracing the book back to its roots here in Scotland. We don’t know how it came to be for sale online but it’s now back where it belongs with a fascinating story of its journey.”
