• The Guardia Civil have delivered 9 seventeen and eighteenth century sculptures, that were recovered in Spain, to the Portuguese Judiciary Police.
• The recovered pieces were held by Spanish antiquities dealers who had acquired them from a Portuguese citizen.
• One of the pieces recovered, a coat of arms, had been put on display in a stand at the international antiques fair held in November 2009 in Madrid.

The Guardia Civil, in a ceremony held at the National Museum of Roman Art in Merida (Badajoz), delivered the nine stone sculptures of the XVII-XVIII, and of significant historical value, to the Portuguese authorities.

The artworks were recovered when they were found in the possession of antique dealers in Toledo, Malaga and Cadiz.

The investigations began when the Guardia Civil became aware through the Art Center Group of the Judiciary Police.

The thefts of the sculptures and coats of arms were committed during 2009 in Lisbon, Portalegre and Estoril-Cascais.

Agents of the Heritage Group of the Central Operations Unit of the Guardia Civil performed various visits to shops and antique fairs in Toledo, Malaga and Cadiz, with the hope of locating a person of Portuguese nationality whom it was believed had committed the thefts.

Subsequently, agents located one of the pieces on sale from a stand at one of the most important antiques fairs held in Madrid.

Once satisfied that all the pieces located in Spain corresponded to those stolen in the robbery, they proceeded to confiscate them and in collaboration of the Ministry of Culture, used the National Museum of Roman Art Mérida (Badajoz) as a storage point, where they remained until today.

The operation resulted in the arrest the alleged perpetrator of the robberies in Tolosa (Spain).

The Guardia Civil and the Ministry of Culture recommended to collectors and owners of works of art that in order to facilitate recovery in case of theft, you should be in possession of photographs of them. They also suggest inclusion in the records and inventories of Spanish Historical Heritage assets.

This action is another example of the fruitful and continued collaboration between the Guardia Civil and the Ministry of Culture in the defense of the Historical and the fight against illicit trafficking in cultural property.