More than 2,000 stolen historical artefacts were recovered in an 'unprecedented' nationwide operation on Wednesday, dpa cited Italy's monuments police as saying.
Officers from the national heritage squads of the Carabinieri police found ancient vases, coins, fragments of ancient buildings and equipment for clandestine archeological excavations in 142 locations up and down the country.
'It is an unprecedented operation, considering the number of targets and forces deployed,' the Carabinieri said, claiming to have uncovered a criminal group that specialized in looting and smuggling art from across southern Italy.