Last month, an early Muslim text was withdrawn from sale at Christie's auction house after it was recognised as stolen by experts. The thirteenth-century Arabic manuscript, a philosophical work by the Sufi saint Muhyiddin ibn 'Arabi, was among 110 works looted from an ancient library in Konya, Anatolia. Many of the works being smuggled to Britain are from Italy or Turkey. They include early Renaissance religious texts in Latin, philosophical and scientific works by pioneers of the Enlightenment and heavily decorated early Islamic works. Books worth millions of pounds have been taken from underfunded libraries in Russia, Poland and the Ukraine.
Detectives say manuscripts, like works of art, are often used as collateral for drug deals.
They say investigations are made harder because many deals are completed privately. Last year, police in Britain, Turkey and Cyprus launched a joint operation after a Turkish businessman approached a director of Christie's with photocopies of an eleventh-century Koran stolen from the famous Topkapi Palace in Istanbul. The manuscript was recovered when detectives arrested an associate on his way to board a plane to Britain. A man in London was arrested on suspicion of handling stolen goods. There are fears that criminals in Britain may be learning from their foreign counterparts.