[MSN] Italian police investigate book thief, recover dozens of items. An Italian man disguised as a priest and prepared to lock himself in a bathroom for a day managed to sneak away with dozens of 300-year-old books, drawings and watercolors from top libraries and public archives in Rome. The items were sold in Italy and abroad, particularly in France. The investigation is now aimed at tracing other trafficking channels.

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Italian police investigate book thief, recover dozens of items

The Associated Press
Monday, October 1, 2007

ROME: An Italian man disguised as a priest and prepared to lock himself 
in a bathroom for a day managed to sneak away with dozens of 
300-year-old books, drawings and watercolors worth at least €650,000 
(US$921,635) from top libraries and public archives in Rome, authorities 
said Monday.

Italian police recovered dozens of items including 17th-century diaries, 
drawings that chronicled life in Rome, scientific books and watercolors 
dating back to 1700 in raids at the man's home and storerooms.

The suspect, a Roman man in his mid-forties, used ink remover to delete 
identification numbers and library stamps from the items, said Gen. 
Giovanni Nistri, who heads Italy's police art squad.

When marks were engraved in the paper, he used an iron to smooth them 
out. He dripped coffee on pages to make them look moldy.

The items were sold in Italy and abroad, particularly in France, Nistri 
said. Nistri did not reveal what led police to the man.

The investigation is now aimed at tracing other trafficking channels, 
police said.

"Even in the libraries, there's a gigantic cultural heritage that we 
risk losing for the pleasure of some," Nistri told a press conference 
Monday.

The suspect, whom authorities refused to identify, has been convicted in 
the past for similar thefts in Turin and is believed to have stolen 
papers in Modena, Turin and Florence in recent months, Nistri said.

The suspect, who is cooperating with officers, has not been arrested but 
police did not rule out an arrest in the future. Officers said there was 
no immediate risk he would try to flee the country.

Nistri said historical archives and public libraries are particularly 
vulnerable to theft because they often lack proper surveillance and 
staffers don't immediately realize the theft of just a few pages.

An undersecretary in the Culture Ministry, Danielle Gattegno Mazzonis, 
said the ministry was planning to increase staff and set up alarm 
systems to monitor libraries and public archives because the trafficking 
of ancient books is fast becoming a flourishing trade.

"There are collectors and amateurs of specific epochs that would spend a 
fortune to have, for example, the original edition of a newspaper which 
came out the day Garibaldi was born," Mazzonis said.

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