Spain confiscated gold artifacts worth $63.6 million stolen from Ukraine

Author:
Liza Brovko
Date:

The police of Spain confiscated ancient gold artifacts worth about $63.6 million stolen from Ukraine.

"Reuters" writes about it.

Madrid police said the 11 artifacts seized included necklaces, bracelets and earrings dating to the Greco-Scythian period between the 8th and 4th centuries BC.

The exhibits were displayed in the Kyiv museum in 2009-2013, and in 2016 they were illegally taken out of Ukraine. It is not specified what the museum was. Law enforcement officers said that the artifacts came with forged documents to make it look like they belonged to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC). The name of the church is also not mentioned.

As part of this investigation, three Spanish citizens and two Ukrainian citizens were arrested. They were exposed when they sold one of the stolen items, a gold belt with ramsʼ heads, at a private auction in Madrid.