200 ‘irreplaceable’ books worth 2.7 million euros that were stolen in London have been found under a house in Romania

ABOUT 200 “UNREPLACEABLE” books worth more than £ 2.5 million (€ 2.7 million) have been found buried under a house in Romania, more than three years after they were stolen from a warehouse in London.

The books, which include works by Galileo and Sir Isaac Newton, were taken during the robbery in Feltham, west London, in January 2017, according to the Metropolitan Police.

The thieves broke in by drilling holes in the ceiling and bypassed the sensors by rappelling down to the warehouse, where the books were stored before shipping them to Las Vegas for a specialty book auction.

Agents recovered the items on Wednesday after searching a house underground in Neamt, northeast Romania.

An investigation identified the suspects as part of a Romanian organized crime group, responsible for robberies of high-value stores across the UK.

The group has been linked to 11 other crimes in London, where a further £ 2 million (€ 2.18 million) worth of property has been stolen, using the same method of entering the property through a roof.

As part of an international operation, Scotland Yard officers have been working together with officers from the Romanian National Police and the Italian Carabinieri, supported by Europol and Eurojust.

Some 45 addresses have been searched in the UK, Romania and Italy.

The Metropolitan Police said 13 people were charged in the UK with conspiring to commit robberies between December 2016 and April 2019, and to acquire criminal property.

About 12 of them have pleaded guilty and will be sentenced later this month, while the thirteenth accused will be tried in March, the force added.

Detective Inspector Andy Durham of Specialist Crime South said: “This recovery is a perfect end to this operation and is a demonstration of the successful joint work between the Met and our European law enforcement partners in Romania and Italy, and at Europol and Eurojust.

“These books are extremely valuable, but more importantly, they are irreplaceable and of great importance to international cultural heritage.

“If it weren’t for the hard work of Police Officer David Ward and others on this Joint Investigation Team, these books would have been lost to the world forever.”