Police hold 19 for museum thefts

Seventeen men and two women have been arrested in connection with raids on museums and auction houses in which artefacts worth millions of pounds were stolen.

Hundreds of officers from 26 police forces and the Serious Organised Crime Agency were involved, with warrants executed in London, Sussex, the West Midlands, Cambridgeshire, Essex and Northern Ireland.

The operation follows thefts across England last year – three at Durham Museum, and one each at Gorringes Auction House in East Sussex, Norwich Castle Museum and the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge.