It is suspected that members of this organized crime group stole 17 books valued at 440,000 euros from the reading room of the Vilnius University Library in May 2023.
Four suspected Georgian citizens were detained, 27 searches were carried out, 150 books were discovered, including one stolen from a French library; other books found will be checked to determine their origin.
The operation was coordinated by Eurojust and Europol.
During the investigation, it turned out that the suspects stole books in several ways. Sometimes they pretended to be researchers when ordering books from libraries, using fictitious names. While some members of the group communicated with librarians, diverting their attention, others replaced books with fakes. In other cases, they simply committed a robbery.
Since libraries in different countries were affected by the group, Eurojust has been facilitating the exchange of information and coordinating the actions of law enforcement officials since November 2023.
On the day of the arrest, more than 100 police officers took part in the operation, including four police officers from Lithuania.
