Morocco Security authorities handed over to the Italian authorities on Saturday a historical painting found earlier this year after it was stolen from a church in the northern European city of Modena in 2014 with a financial value of about $ 6 million.
The masterpiece was handed over at the Casablanca security headquarters, in the presence of the Italian ambassador to Rabat Roberto Natali, a high-level Italian security delegation as well as senior officials of the Casablanca security state.
"The Kingdom of Morocco, in compliance with all its international obligations, especially at the security level, is doing all it can to meet all the obligations imposed by the International Criminal Police Organization," said Hamid Bahri, General Controller of the Security Region, Anfa.
He added that the handover, which took place today, "is an embodiment of the serious work carried out by the Directorate General of National Security with all its interests in order to interact with all that is recorded in the table of thefts of great value at the international level."
The same security revealed that "under the procedures initiated by the security services, based on information obtained by the security department of the judicial police of Al-Hassani, all traces of this crime were tracked in order to stop three original actors of this theft," noting that in coordination with the Italian security authorities Another person was arrested in Italy pending deportation to Morocco for all proceedings at the judicial level.
"Today we have opened another page in the form of effective security cooperation between Rabat and Rome," said Roberto Ntali, adding that it was about restoring a masterpiece of great cultural value that had been stolen in Italy in 2014.
It was reported that thanks to the effectiveness of the security intervention of the Moroccan authorities, this precious masterpiece was found in a standard circumstance in Casablanca and was then handed over to the Italian authorities in the presence of a specialized security cell to receive the stolen artifacts.
The Italian Ambassador reiterated his thanks to the Moroccan security authorities, especially the Casablanca security state, which was able, thanks to its rapid and effective intervention, to dismantle the threads of this crime.
In August 2014, the San Vecchino church in the Italian city of Modena announced the disappearance of an oil painting by the famous Italian painter Giovanni Francesco Barbieri, known as Gurchino, which he completed in 1639.
The painting, named "Virgin Mary with Saint John the Baptist and Gregory the Miracle Maker", is considered one of the most expensive art objects in Italy.
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